Nadal struggles but finds a way to win

Rafael Nadal needed more than three hours to complete his most impressive recent fightback, with the Spaniard thrilling a home crowd with a win into the fourth round of the Madrid Masters on Monday.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion fought past a dangerous spoiler in Pedro Cachin, finally defeating the scrappy Argentine 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

Nadal’s victory over the Argentine marked the first time since the US Open 2022 that he has won three consecutive matches.

The five-time Madrid winner had to battle through momentum changes in the struggle as the 37-year-old competes on clay for only the second time this season following two seasons of injury problems.

“Some moments were good, some were not so good,” he said as he lined up a fourth-round match with Czech Jiri Lehceka,

“But I found a way to get through, In the third set I had some mistakes but I played more unpredictably – that probably changed the match.”

Fans at the Caja Magica erupted in joy when Spain’s king of clay finished off victory in his first match point.

“I’m really enjoying this,” Nadal said. “Let’s see how I feel when I wake up tomorrow.

“I love playing day by day, this means everything to me.”

The 37-year-old broke nine times from 18 chances and profitted from 41 unforced errors from his opponent.

Nadal swept the opening set with ease but failed to close out a straight-sets win.

Instead, Cachin held on after Nadal recovered from a double break down, levelling the match as he won a tiebreak after twice serving for the second set.   

In the third, Nadal went up a break, lost it but broke the South American two more times to emerge the winner as Cachin sent a forehand long on match point.

The Argentine is coming off a long dry spell, going eight months from last August to this month without a match victory and stood 0-11 this season before Madrid.

Nadal won his 59th match in Madrid and has not lost before the quarter-finals in his last nine appearances dating to 2012 when Fernando Verdasco put him out in the third round.

Main photo:- Rafa Nadal celebrates in Madrid – by ISF Ltd