(Rafa celebrates his hard-fought 2nd Round victory!) It seems all the top seeds want to have long 5 set matches this first week of Wimbledon. Federer and Djokovic both had five setters in the first round, and now Nadal had to win in five coming back from 2 sets to 1 down today to beat the formidable Dutch server Robin Haase 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. I could only watch the score go by on SlamTracker at work, and I couldn't believe when Rafa lost the first set 7-5 and then again the third 6-3. I wondered what his body language was on the court. Did he look like he was ailing, or was Haase just really taking it to him? When he won the fourth set 6-0, I relaxed - but just a little bit. The 5th set wasn't so tense, but of course I'm very relieved and pleased that Rafa made it through.
Rafa will next face Philipp Petzschner of Germany in the third round on Saturday. I don't know if I've ever seen Petzschner before. The name doesn't ring a bell even though he's the 33rd seed. Rafa holds a 2-0 record against him, but this will be their first meeting on grass. Petzschner is coming off a 5-set win too (they are everywhere this year at Wimbledon! I swear!) so we'll have to see how this one goes. I'll certainly be cheering for a quick victory by Nadal. Vamos!
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