INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Rafael Nadal is the ultimate escape artist, but he wondered if he had pushed his luck when he was down 2-5 and two breaks in the third set against Sebastian Korda on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open. Korda’s backhand was sizzling and his court coverage was exceptional, causing problems Nadal couldn’t solve. “I thought I was lost today,” Nadal said.
He told himself to play better so he could at least walk away feeling good about some part of his game. He began to chip away at his deficit and as he did, he planted doubts in Korda's mind. "Normal thing with this kind of match, in that position, of 100 matches probably you going to lose 90," said Nadal, who withdrew from the next tour event, the Miami Open, to guard against fatigue. "But if you give up, you're going to lose 100."
Capitalizing on Korda's growing nerves and adjusting his tactics to come closer to the baseline and rely more on his forehand, Nadal roared back to win four straight games. In the tiebreak he rallied from 2-3 to pull out a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Korda, 21, the best hope for American male tennis players to again be factors in major tournaments and probably the only one with a cat named "Raffy" in honor of Nadal.
