Nadal made to sweat by Mathieu

Defending champion Rafael Nadal avoided a major upset on the day of his 20th birthday as he battled back from a set down to win his third-round clash against crowd favourite Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Nadal eventually prevailed 5-7 6-4 6-4 6-4 in four hours and 53 minutes, extending his streak of consecutive wins on clay to 56.

In the first set Mathieu, saved four break points before winning his game and take a 6-5 lead.

The Frenchman then grabbed the first set on his third set point when Nadal’s forehand landed just outside the line.

Nadal, the second seed, fought back in the second set which he took 6-4. Leading 5-4 and 15 all on his serve in the third, the Spaniard called in the trainer because a piece of banana had got stuck in his throat.

Back on court minutes later he had no problem tying up the third set 6-4 after Mathieu’s backhand went out.

In the final set Mathieu fought back from a break down. At 4-4, however, he netted his forehand which allowed Nadal to break again and take a 5-4 lead.

Serving out for the match the Spaniard did not tremble as an ace gave him two matches points.

He then completed a much-deserved victory when Mathieu’s backhand landed behind the baseline. Nadal will next face 14th seed Australia Lleyton Hewitt who beat Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 6-2.