Rafael Nadal takes on Ernests Gulbis in the last eight of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Nadal recovered from a second set blow-out to see off the talented Lukas Lacko 7-6, 0-6, 6-3 in a pulsating second round encounter. It is quite a feat to bagel Nadal, one of the fiercest competitors ever to wield a tennis racket and only ten men have ever managed it.
It is a testament to Lacko's ability that he allowed Nadal just eleven points in that set and appeared on course for an upset of seismic proportions. However Nadal is far too experienced to panic and he simply regrouped, dug deep for the decider and eventually pulled through.
“I felt [I had] less power than usual,” said Nadal. “I feel a little bit tired, and that's what happened in the second and in the third... It was an important victory for me for the situation because Lacko played, I think, very well, and I had to be there and fight all the time to win.”
Gulbis is the fifth seed in the Gulf this week and he powered past qualifier Antonio Veic in under an hour. We have been waiting for a major breakthrough from the Latvian for the past three years but 2010 seemed to be the time when he finally started to string it all together. However after a fabulous clay-court season which saw him beat Roger Federer, Gulbis got injured and was never quite the same for the rest of the year.
If he can rise to the occasion today this could be some match. However Nadal has won all three of their previous encounters.
