Wimbledon second seed Rafael Nadal recovered from the loss of an opening set in which he was outplayed to battle past the impressive Ernests Gulbis.

Latvian Gulbis overpowered Nadal to break at 6-5 and take a surprise lead.

But Nadal stirred to storm through the second and kept his nerve to claim the third on a tie-break.

The Spaniard broke Gulbis at 5-3 in the fourth before sealing a 5-7 6-2 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 win to set up a third-round match against Germany's Nicolas Kiefer.

Kiefer, the number 27 seed and a quarter-finalist in 1997, was in sensational form as he destroyed clay-specialist Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-0 6-3 6-1.

"I am very happy with this victory because I knew before the match that I was going to have a tough time against a very aggressive player," Nadal told BBC Sport.

"He has a good serve, a strong forehand and backhand - he has a very good all-round game. "I improved throughout the match and I was playing well by the end."

Nadal, who has now won his last 19 matches, appeared taken aback as the Gulbis opened up with a display of unreturnable serves and blistering groundstrokes.

The world number two struggled to establish his usual rhythm and his concentration looked particularly fragile after being denied a point at 4-4 on the Gulbis serve.

Nadal clearly reached a Gulbis drop-shot before Gulbis put his return wide, but the umpire adjudged Nadal's shot to have bounced twice.

He was unmoved despite Nadal's vehement protest and, when the 22-year-old slipped when attempting to retrieve a Gulbis drop-shot two games later, everything seemed to be going the Latvian's way.

French Open quarter-finalist Gulbis capitalised on the problems Nadal was having amid a blustery wind, increased the intensity and earned set point on his opponent's serve.

Nadal saved with a superb, unreturnable serve kicked wide but, when Gulbis engineered a second break point, Nadal went long.

Evidently fired up, Nadal swiftly made inroads into the hitherto impeccable Gulbis serve, breaking at 1-1 and 3-1 before closing out the set with a love service game.

Gulbis, the first ever Latvian to compete at a Grand Slam, looked to be conserving energy towards the end of the second set and he duly began the third with an increased sense of urgency.

He was forced to save break point at 3-3 - a culmination of some electrifying tennis from Nadal - but was holding his own in what was swiftly becoming a war of attrition.

Both players were having trouble finding their range from the baseline, best illustrated when Gulbis netted poorly to concede a mini-break which helped Nadal claim the tie-break with ease.

Gulbis was visibly tiring and Nadal took his second of three break points at 4-3 up in the fourth set and completed the win on serve with a stunning, lopping passing shot down the line.

He is joined in the third round by Mikhail Youzhny, the number 17 seed eventually coming through 4-6 6-4 6-3 3-6 6-3 against Italy's Stefano Galvani.

(BBC)

<< Back