Nadal battles back against Lopez to reach Paris Masters 3rd round

Rafael Nadal overcame a shaky start against Lopez to come back from being down and win the match at the Paris Masters.

Rafel Nadal overcame a slow start against Lopez to come back and win the match in three sets. The very physical match lasted for two and a half hours and Nadal won 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4. The opening set started shaky for Nadal as he allowed himself to get broken by Feliciano in the first game. Feliciano then won his own service game to go up 2-0. After that, we saw no more breaks and Lopez won the opening set 6-4. Nadal only had one break point in the whole set and Feliciano saved it. Lopez played a very good set especially on serve where he dropped only one point on his first serve in the entire set hitting 8 aces in the process. Nadal didn't look too happy but he simply wasn't good enough in the first set and he needed to improve.

At the start of the 2nd set, Nadal showed his intentions by playing very aggressively and generally better. Midway through the set, Nadal had three break points during a game but he failed to use either. Lopez was very good on break points until then saving all 5 he faced. After that, he settled in nicely and Nadal, despite his best efforts, could not produce any significant chance to break Lopez. Ultimately we ended up in the tiebreak where both start well. Ultimately Nadal found a way to take a mini-break which he used to clinch it 7-5.

At the start of the final set Nadal immediately broke Lopez to make it 1-0. Lopez came out strong in the next game even forcing a break point but Rafa remained calm and saved it. Nadal continued playing well and serving well holding the lead at 4-2. Lopez didn't give up easily and at times he challenged Nadal but never enough to come close to a break. In the end, Rafa closed it out with 6-4. It was tougher than he would have liked but he is through and that is all that matters.