Rafael Nadal survives Goffin scare to set up potential Carlos Alcaraz Madrid quarter-final

Rafael Nadal advanced to the last-eight in Madrid by the skin of his teeth with a 6-3 5-7 7-6(9) win over David Goffin in the third-round after three hours and 10 minutes. It was just the second match of his comeback and and he held match points in the second set after less than 90 minutes of the match, before being dragged into a third where he was forced to save match points in the tiebreak. He will now face either Cam Norrie or Carlos Alcaraz in what could be a battle of the Spaniards on home soil.

Nadal and Goffin were facing off for a seventh time, with the Belgian winning their last encounter at the 2020 ATP Cup. It was a strong start for Nadal, who held to love and immediately set up a break point on his opponent's serve but the world No 60 managed to save it and settled into the match, breaking Nadal himself to lead 3-2 as the Spaniard hit back-to-back double faults and received a time violation from umpire Richard Haigh at deuce.

But it was a reversal of fortune for Goffin, who himself hit back-to-back doubles faults before going 0-40 down, and the world No 4 was able to convert his second break point to get things level again at 3-3. The 31-year-old didn't back down and set up a break point on Nadal's serve in the very next game but he wasn't able to take the lead over the home favourite. From a break down at 2-3, Nadal went on to win the next four games in a row to close out a 6-3 first set in 48 minutes.

The former world No 7 managed to end the 35-year-old's run of games and hold to open the second set but it was then ten straight points for the third seed, who held and broke to love, going 30-0 up at 2-1 before he finally hit his first unforced error of the second set in the fourth game. He followed it up