11th of February

Rafa Nadal has survived a scare in the first round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam today after being a set down to Italy's Simone Bolelli before fighting back to secure a 4-6 6-2 7-5 victory.

Rafa admitted he had struggled with the pace of Bolelli's shots, saying: "In tennis, every match is very tough and I'm very happy to win the first match. He's a very good player, he played big shots from the baseline. He improves every year, I want to congratulate him."

Then he continued, "I found my rhythm, but I had a bad game in the first set before I started playing better. I'm in the second round and I expect a better result. I'm hoping to play better."

Next up for the top seed is a meeting with 17-year-old Bulgarian wild card Grigor Dimitrov, who knocked out Tomas Berdych on Tuesday.

Dimitrov has a hard-hitting game that could give Rafa trouble. however, Dimitrov lacks experience in big matches and in the end, Rafa’s ability to play under pressure should allow him to navigate through this match.

Vamos Rafa!