Rafael Nadal qualified for the Mutua Madrid Open quarter-finals after an epic, hard-fought three-set victory against David Goffin.
Three sets completely different in form and substance. The former would probably have lost to any of the other fourteen remaining in the Madrid draw. And the second, in conditions of absolute normality, paradoxically would never have lost it. In the tie break of the third set, Nadal finds himself from 4-1 (with two services available) to cancel two match points.
On 6-3 5-3 it seems the most banal of practices. The five-time champion of the tournament, who wasted a total of two match points at the end, after more than three and ten hours of play, closes at 6-3 5-7 7-6 (9) and from a decidedly uncomfortable position puts himself on hold of his young countryman Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals.