Nadal survives Almagro scare

Rafael Nadal survives test against Nicolas Almagro at Paris Masters

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Thursday, 12, Nov 2009 09:59

By Alistair Potter.

Second seed Rafael Nadal had to battle back from a set behind - and save five match points along the way - to scrape past Nicolas Almagro into the third round of the Paris Masters.

Nadal's Spanish compatriot had him under pressure from the start and grabbed a well-earned break of serve before sweeping to the first set 6-3.

And Almagro looked set to produce a big shock when he went 6-5 up in the second set and had five match points to beat the former world number one.

However, Nadal used all his experience - taking advantage of his nervous opponent and a quick court - to battle back and take the set to a tiebreak, which the demoralised Almagro lost 7-2.

Despite the second-set setback though, Almagro came out fighting in the deciding set and broke his Spanish counterpart to take a 5-3 lead.

But Nadal's famous fighting spirit came to the fore once again as he turned around the deficit with two breaks of serve to seal a 3-6 7-6 7-5 victory in a little over three hours.

"I am very lucky to be in third round - I didn't play well," Nadal admitted afterwards.

"I was practising really well in Mallorca, but since I arrived here it's been tough to get into a good rhythm.

"I have another chance to improve in my next match."

Nadal's win earned him another all-Spanish showdown in the third round against 14th seed Tommy Robredo, who beat Tomas Berdych in straight sets.