Resilient Nadal battles back to see off Gulbis

Rafael Nadal recovered from a nightmare first set to dispatch Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis and book his place in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters yesterday.

Nadal narrowly avoided losing the first set to love against the world number 46, who broke the Spaniard twice in succession from the start to surge into a 5-0 lead.

But despite also threatening early in the second set, Gulbis could not close out what would have been a famous win as Nadal rallied to win 1-6 7-5 6-4 in two hours and 37 minutes.

Nadal will play compatriot David Ferrer in the last eight after the Spaniard was given a walkover against injured opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Earlier top seed and world number one Novak Djokovic found the going easier against Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov, holding serve throughout and breaking three times for a straight-forward 6-1 6-4 success.

Sixth seed Tomas Berdych beat Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-5 6-2 in their third-round clash, but seventh seed Juan Martin Del Potro was on the end of an upset as he fell 6-4 7-6 (7/3) to Benoit Paire.

In the women’s third round Serena Williams spent just one hour and six minutes dispatching Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova 6-0 6-1.

Third seed Victoria Azarenka moved through when Japanese opponent Ayumi Morita was forced to retire trailing 6-1 2-0, while Maria Kirilenko also retired when she was 6-3 2-0 down to seventh seed Sara Errani.

Jelena Jankovic saw off China’s fifth seed Li Na 7-6 (7/2) 7-5, while there were also wins for Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro and Romania’s Simona Halep.

Other results: Sharapova bt Stephens 6-2 6-1; Stosur bt Kvitova 7-5 2-6 6-1.