Rafael Nadal was well aware that his first round in Beijing against Lucas Pouille would not have been an easy one and he was right with that. The King of Clay was in deep trouble after he lost the opening set and he was in the quicksands in the 2nd set tiebreak.

What happened?

The world no.1 was 3-5 down in the breaker when he performed an outstanding backhand passing shot from a desperate position after Pouille attacked him very well (4-5 instead of 3-6). Eventually, the Frenchman managed to conquer 2 consecutive match points (6-4), but he squandered the first one when he had a clear winner on his forehand. Rafa took full advantage of it to save also the second match point to finally bring the affair to the breaker. Lucas refused to bend, and he put up a fight for the entire decider. The world no.23 imploded only in the 11th game when he conceded his service game at love. Finally, it was Nadal to hold his serve to win this incredible match after 2 hours and 31 minutes   4-6 7-6 (8) 7-5.

Very happy, but…

After the match, Rafa commented

“He played well, I think, very aggressive. He’s serving well. For me it was a little bit difficult at the beginning, then I started to play better.

But still, I didn’t have the control of the match for almost all the time. I am very, very happy to be through.”

Next vs. Khachanov

Rafa will face Karen Khachanov in the second round. The head to head is 1-0 for the world no.1 that has recently defeated the Russian in Wimbledon.