Rafael Nadal fights back to beat Lukas Rosol in first round of Swiss Indoors

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter and Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter

Published: October 26 2015 | 20:17

Last updated: October 28 2015 | 08:23

Rafael Nadal overcomes Lukas Rosol in three sets to progress into the second round of the Swiss Indoors Tournament.

Rafael Nadal survived a real scare against old nemesis Lukas Rosol to book his place in the second round of the Swiss Indoors tournament.

The Czech had caused a shock at Wimbledon in 2012 by knocking out Nadal in the second round, but this time around there was to be no repeat as the Spaniard battled back to win 1-6 7-5 7-6(4).

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates a point during the Swiss Indoors ATP 500 tennis tournament opening match against Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic at St Jakobshalle on October 26, 2015 in Basel, Switzerland. © Getty Images

Rosol administered the first blow to take a 3-1 lead in the first set, and Nadal struggled to recover in the opener as he dropped serve a second time.

A comeback was needed from the 14-time Grand Slam champion in the second set, but he made it even harder for himself by getting broken in his opening game.

Rosol, who is ranked number 83 in the world, was able to race 5-3 ahead after being handed that early advantage, only for his opponent to win his first break of the contest in the 10th game to level things up.

Nadal then took the next two games to get up and running, but only after squandering two set points which appeared to let Rosol right back in.

The decider proved to be equally tight, with both players losing serve on one occasion to force a tie-break which Nadal edged 7-4 to avenge some bad memories and progress.