Ananova
February 11, 2025

Rafael Nadal advanced into the second round of the Milan Indoors with a 7-5 6-7(5-7) 6-1 win over Ivo Karlovic.

The Spaniard made the job harder than it needed to be after throwing away a 5-2 in the second-set tie-break.

But he bounced back in the decider, breaking the big-serving Croat three times to breeze through.

"I was afraid of also losing the match after losing the second set, because Karlovic is difficult to break and if you drop your serve you are finished," the 17-year-old said.

According to the ATP, Nadal also said, "It was very tough, with someone that serves as hard as he does you know that if you get broken you lose the set. When I dropped the second set in a tie-break, I thought about holding my serve in the final set and play another tie-break...I was surprised it finished 6-1."

About winning the deciding rubber in Davis Cup against the Czech Republic on Sunday, Nadal said, "I haven't been to Spain after the Davis Cup but they told me it's been pretty crazy with all the media coverage when we won. They were starting the evening news with tennis. It's been one of the biggest satisfactions I've had so far." Elsewhere, Antony Dupuis stunned fourth-seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3 7-6(8-6) while fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic crashed out after a 6-4 6-4 loss to Karol Beck.

Fellow Slovakians Dominik Hrbaty and Karol Kucera joined Beck in the second round.

Hrbaty beat Russian Igor Andreev 4-6 6-3 6-2 while Kucera overcame Radek Stepanek 7-6(7-5) 6-2.