Nadal Narrowly Avoids Another Rosol Beating in Basel

(Reuters) - Third seed Rafa Nadal came within two points of defeat by old nemesis Lukas Rosol before sparking into life and reaching the second round of the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel on Monday.

Spaniard Nadal was in all sorts of trouble, trailing by a set and 5-4 and with 92nd-ranked Rosol serving at 30-0, but his Czech opponent framed a basic backhand volley at 30-15 and blew his chance, Nadal going on to win 1-6 7-5 7-6(4).

A Rosol double fault allowed former world number one Nadal to take the second set and the decider looked like being a no-contest as Rosol's challenge began to unravel.

Nadal moved a break ahead but at 4-2, Rosol played some stunning groundstrokes to earn three…