Spain’s Rafael Nadal sattends a news conference at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament in Basel, Switzerland, on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. (Georgios Kefalas/Keystone via AP)
BASEL, Switzerland — Rafael Nadal rallied from losing positions twice to beat Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the Swiss Indoors first round on Monday.
The 69th-ranked Rosol, who beat Nadal at Wimbledon in 2012, served for the match leading 5-4 in the second set but lost seven straight games.
Nadal then trailed 3-0 in the decisive tiebreaker before clinching a victory he celebrated with vigorous fist pumps.
“For me it was very difficult to adjust,” said the seventh-seeded Spaniard, who played his first indoor match this season. “I tried to survive in that second set and wait for an opportunity.”
Earlier, French qualifier Adrian Mannarino, beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3), and Austria’s Dominic Thiem beat Dutchman Robin Haase 0-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
In the late match, Donald Young of the United States beat wild-card entry Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.