Rafael Nadal struggled through a 91-minute opening set and won the joint-longest tiebreaker of his career as he held off Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka to begin his summer hardcourt campaign with a 7-6 (14-12), 6-3 second-round victory Wednesday at the Toronto Masters.
Only once before has the Spanish world number one played such a long decider. But once Nadal got the first set out of the way on his fourth set point after Wawrinka had missed on five of his own, the momentum shift was all but complete.
“I’m pretty happy with how I played,” said Nadal. “I was worried about this match, I knew it would be dangerous against Stan.
“I played well, I had a bit of everything — difficult moments in the tiebreaker and also some god play. It’s important to win the first match back just for the confidence.” Nadal is bidding for a solid build-up to the U.S. Open starting in two and a half weeks after winning Wimbledon and undergoing therapy on a knee that was pronounced a success.
He has now beaten Wawrinka in all six of their matches without the loss of a set.
