Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

Rafael Nadal admits he will take additional confidence into the last three events of this season after escaping an upset bid at the Swiss Indoors against longtime nemesis Lucas Rosol. The Czech famously beat Nadal in the Wimbledon second round in 2012, sending the Spaniard into a downward spiral from which he eventually needed a massive recovery effort.

But three years on, 69th-ranked journeyman Rosol remains a threat to Nadal, with the challenger emotional standing two points from victory before in their first-round match at the St Jakobshalle before losing serve while trying to close out a straight-sets shock leading at 5-4 in the second.

Nadal rallied for a break and slowly turned the tide. coming from 4-2 down in the third-set tiebreak on his way to redemption.

Nadal called the win in two and a quarter hours “very tough emotionally.”

“At the same time, it’s a great victory. It’s important for me to have these kinds of comebacks. I’ve been in these situations more times than I would like this year, so I’m happy to win a match like this. It was tough to get into the match. But it was a little bit of everything. A little bit of luck, a little bit of belief, to keep fighting for this match. That’s what I did.

“I was only thinking about trying to find a way to win the next point,” Nadal said, adding that he has come back a lot of times in tough situations, but this year has been different.

“I’ve lost matches that I was winning. But the last few weeks have helped for building the confidence. And the crowd support was very important for me.”

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.