Rafael Nadal Drops 1st Set at Barcelona Open in 4 Years But Advances to Last 16

Barcelona: World number two Rafael Nadal dropped a set at the Barcelona Open for the first time in four years before advancing to the last 16, beating Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday.

The Spaniard surrendered a 5-3 lead in the first set and then spurned two set points in the tiebreak, which Mayer, ranked 63 in the world, edged thanks to an impressive crosscourt forehand winner.

Nadal, who was playing on a court named after him, broke the Argentine twice more in the decider to set up an all-Spanish last 16 tie with David Ferrer.

"It wasn't the best start, I wasn't feeling at my best out there but I found a way to keep going and to win the match," Nadal told reporters.

"All games are dangerous, especially when you lose the first set, anything can happen. You have to look at things in the most positive way and the most positive thing is to be able to play again tomorrow."

Ninth seed Denis Shapovalov was knocked out by Chilean Christian Garin 7-5, 6-2, while Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov made it through after seeing off Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3.

Nadal, who has 25-6 winning record against Ferrer, added: "Playing David is never easy, especially since he's such a friend. I'm expecting a tough match."

Mayer, ranked 63rd in the world, had never beaten a top-five opponent in 15 attempts but was more than a match for a nervous-looking Nadal in the opening set.

Nadal will be gunning for title number 12 at Roland Garros too and this recovery will have given him much relief, after the 17-time major champion was a shock semi-final loser to Fabio Fognini at the Monte Carlo Masters last week. 

A poor game allowed Nadal to break to love at 4-3 in the first set but Mayer hit back for 5-5 and held on for a tie-break. 

Nadal looked in control after recovering from 3-1 and 4-2 down to set up two set points but he squandered both before Mayer took his chance at the first time of asking, a booming forehand enough to clinch the set.

An early break at the start of the second sent Nadal on his way and he served out at 5-4 to take the match to a decider.

Mayer seemed to have lost belief as he dumped a simple backhand volley into the net, allowing his opponent to seize a crucial break at 2-2.

From there, the momentum was set as Nadal whipped a forehand down the line for 5-2 and then served out to complete a hard-fought win.