Rafael Nadal survives a fourth set scare to advance at the expense of the extremely game Francisco Cerundolo, winning 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round match in Wimbledon.Having gone a break down in the fourth, he looked to be wobbling but roared back with 11 consecutive winning points to leave Cerundolo on the ropes.
Says Nadal, ‘First of all all the credit to Francisco, I think he started to play great and was a very tough opponent,” said the Spaniard in his post-match interview.
“Three years without being here on this amazing surface, it is amazing to be back and I can’t thank [people] enough for the support. It is not a surface that we play very often especially in my case in the last three years I didn’t put any foot on the grass. Every day is a test and I am at the beginning of the tournament’.
British wild card Alastair Gray pulled off an impressive straight-sets victory on his grand slam singles debut to reach the second round.