World No. 1 Rafael Nadal pulled back from the abyss to reach the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday just when it looked as though bogeyman Lukas Rosol had returned to haunt him.
Two years after being knocked out at the same stage by the hard-hitting Czech in a Centre Court horror show, the Spaniard found himself a point away from falling two sets behind before fighting back to win 4-6, 7-6 (6/8), 6-4, 6-4.
“Today is another history, another story,” Nadal, who could now use his escape as a springboard toward a third title, told reporters after what had been billed as a grudge match. “I needed to find the solution. Finally I did.”
Photo: AFP
Nadal is never more vulnerable than in the early rounds at Wimbledon as he makes the tricky transition from dusty red clay to the low, skidding balls on fresh grass.
Feisty Slovakian Martin Klizan proved a handful in the opening round, taking the first set, but Nadal found himself in an even deeper hole on Thursday against the man who sent his world spinning off its axis in 2012.
Rosol’s dramatic five-set win under the Centre Court roof two years ago was the last match Nadal played for seven months as the pain in his battle-scarred knees got the better of him.
This time, with second seed Nadal clearly in much better physical condition, the pattern was ominously familiar as 52nd-ranked Rosol came out all guns blazing.
Thundering down aces clocked at more than 209kph and making mincemeat of Nadal’s serves at times with some savage returns, Rosol showed the 14-times Grand Slam champion little respect, rattling through some games in the blink of an eye.
A panicky Nadal succumbed to the onslaught in the ninth game — a double fault and a skewed forehand allowing Rosol to break serve and the Czech then closed the set with a love game.
Rosol, who has two speeds — hard and very hard — continued pinning Nadal back in the second set and seemed to have him at his mercy when he broke Nadal’s serve to love to lead 4-2.
However, his level dipped slightly, and Nadal broke back to level at 4-4. Rosol was not out of bullets and he continued to blaze away in the tiebreak, moving a mini-break ahead and then having a set point at 6-5 on Nadal’s serve, which the Spaniard saved with a whipped forehand winner.
A Rosol double-fault gifted a relived Nadal the set, and the Mallorcan punched his fist towards his coach and uncle Toni before moving up a gear and into the third round for the first time since 2011.
Ominously for the rest of the players in the bottom half of the draw, which includes Roger Federer, Nadal tends to get stronger once he finds his feet on grass.
In the past decade, every time he has survived past the second round he has gone on to reach the final, winning the title in 2008 and 2010 and losing in 2006, 2007 and 2011.
If Nadal is being made to work overtime so far, Federer, bidding for a record eighth singles title at the All England Club, has marched through untroubled.
Federer cruised to a 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 win over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller — a match requiring the roof after rain arrived late on.
In the women’s draw, fifth seed Maria Sharapova hurried past Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 6-1.
While most of the big names made progress on day four, Australian wildcard Nick Kyrgios provided the biggest shock with an incredible comeback victory over 13th seed Richard Gasquet.
The 19-year-old battled from a two-set deficit against the Frenchman, saving nine match points in a cliffhanger decider to seal a 3-6, 6-7 (4/6), 6-4, 7-5, 10-8 victory.
As well as reaching the third round of a Slam for the first time, Kyrgios also earned the distinction of saving the most match points by a man at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios, who could play Nadal in the last 16, was not the only player to survive a five-setter on Thursday.
His third-round opponent, young Czech Jiri Vesely, beat French 24th seed Gael Monfils 7-6 (5/3), 6-3, 6-7 (1/3), 6-7 (1/3), 6-4.
Marathon man John Isner, who played the longest match in Wimbledon history in 2010, is the last American man standing.
He won a first-set tiebreak 19-17 — the longest Wimbledon tiebreak since 1973 — against Finn Jarkko Nieminen in a straight sets win.
Two women tipped as outsiders for the title progressed on Thursday with big-serving American Madison Keys beating 31st seed Klara Koukalova 7-5, 6-7 (1/3), 6-2 and Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard too good for Silvia Soler Espinosa.
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