Barcelona - Rafael Nadal survived an early scare at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday by coming from a set down to beat Argentina's Leonardo Mayer and seal his place in the last 16.
Nadal, who is attempting to win the tournament for a record 12th time, was made to work hard for his 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 6-2 victory as the world number two avoided a surprise defeat ahead of the start of the French Open next month.
Fellow Spaniard David Ferrer now awaits Nadal in the next round, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake. Nadal has won all of his last four meetings with Ferrer.
"It was a tough start, I didn't have the feeling this afternoon. I just found a way to keep going and win," admitted Nadal.
"He competed well and I was probably not competing that well. My attitude was solid but I had to work hard to stay in the tournament."
Nadal, who has 25-6 winning record against Ferrer, added: "Playing David is never easy, especially since he's such a friend. I'm expecting a tough match."
Mayer, ranked 63rd in the world, had never beaten a top-five opponent in 15 attempts but was more than a match for a nervous-looking Nadal in the opening set.
Nadal will be gunning for title number 12 at Roland Garros too and this recovery will have given him much relief, after the 17-time major champion was a shock semi-final loser to Fabio Fognini at the Monte Carlo Masters last week.
A poor game allowed Nadal to break to love at 4-3 in the first set but Mayer hit back for 5-5 and held on for a tie-break.
Nadal looked in control after recovering from 3-1 and 4-2 down to set up two set points but he squandered both before Mayer took his chance at the first time of asking, a booming forehand enough to clinch the set.
An early break at the start of the second sent Nadal on his way and he served out at 5-4 to take the match to a decider.
Mayer seemed to have lost belief as he dumped a simple backhand volley into the net, allowing his opponent to seize a crucial break at 2-2.
From there, the momentum was set as Nadal whipped a forehand down the line for 5-2 and then served out to complete a hard-fought win.
Results from the Barcelona Open on Wednesday (x denotes seeding):
Second round
Rafael Nadal (ESP x1) bt Leonardo Mayer (ARG) 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 6-2
David Ferrer (ESP) bt Lucas Pouille (FRA x15) 6-3, 6-1
Benoit Paire (FRA) bt Pablo Carreno-Busta (ESP x12) 6-4, 6-7 (9/11), 6-1
Guido Pella (ARG) bt Karen Khachanov (RUS x6) 6-2, 7-6 (7/4)
Roberto Carballes (ESP) bt Nicola Kuhn (ESP) 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2
Christian Garín (CHI) bat Denis Shapovalov (CAN x9) 7-5, 6-2
Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN x16) bt Malek Jaziri (TUN) 6-3, 7-6 (9/7)
Daniil Medvedev (RUS x7) bt Albert Ramos (ESP) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
Mackenzie McDonald (USA) bt Gilles Simon (FRA x11) 6-3, 6-2
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x13) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3