Nadal has right knee bandaged up during three-set win over Cuevas
Thursday 2 November 2017 22:17, UK
World No 1 Rafael Nadal was forced to dig deep at the Paris Masters on Thursday after a recurrence of a knee injury nearly put a dampener on his campaign.
Nadal used his renowned work ethic to overcome Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, having already secured the year-end world No 1 ranking.
The Spaniard, who withdrew from Basel with a knee problem, looked to have suffered a recurrence of the injury during his round-of-16 clash against unseeded Cuevas.
But he battled through on the unforgiving Parisian centre court to record a 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 victory in a match lasting two hours and 20 minutes.
"It was a very difficult match, Pablo is a very good player," Nadal said in his on-court interview. "It's always hard playing someone for the first time, but I will do my best (against Krajinovic)."
I have no idea how much that knee was affecting everything. He came up with seven double faults and some of those balls were dribbling halfway up the net. You have to think that was because he couldn't push up from that leg. He was different to the player that started the match.
Nadal's injury is a blow to his hopes of winning his maiden title in Paris which would take him clear of Novak Djokovic with a record 31st Masters triumph and may even cast doubts over his participation at the season-ending ATP Finals in London from 12-19 November - live on Sky Sports.
The 31-year-old is scheduled to take on Serbian qualifier Filip Krajinovic for a place in the semi-finals on Friday after the world No 77 upset Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-2 3-6 6-1 earlier in the day.
The season-ending extravaganza ATP Finals at London's O2 this November ends another memorable year.
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