Rafael Nadal takes on German qualifier Denis Gremelmayr for a place in the quarter-finals of ATP Doha.
Nadal was relieved to get past the dangerous Philipp Kohlschreiber in the opening round on Tuesday. The top seed was taken the distance before winning through 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3.
"He can play at a very high level," Nadal said afterwards. "He has fantastic shots. His serve worked very well for him in moments today, [as well as] his return. Sometimes I felt that I was serving okay, and sometimes his return was very fast. So it was difficult."
Kohlschreiber will be ruing his inability to ram home his advantage at the start of the decider. He broke serve immediately to go 1-0 up but Nadal took the next three games and never looked back.
"I'm very happy about my level," the Spaniard said afterwards. "I think I played a very good first set. The only moment that I didn't play well was the beginning of the second and after the tie-break. For the rest [of the match], I think I played solid."
And most importantly for Nadal and his supporters, the world number two looked fully fit after complaining about his aching shoulder during last week's exhibition event in Abu Dhabi. Sterner tests will await later this week but first up, he takes on the left-handed Gremelmayr in the second round. Gremelmayr is currently ranked 189 in the world but he a career high of 59 and came through qualifying over the weekend before defeating Potito Starace 6-3, 6-2 yesterday. However this will be his fifth match in five days.
