At the end of the match, still, on the court, the presenter asked Rafael Nadal about his match to which he quickly replied: “I played poorly.” The Spaniard advanced past Fabio Fognini 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 at the Mutua Madrid Open.

The truth is that Nadal played well below his recent level almost all the entire match. In the beginning of the first set, Fognini broke serve to go up 3-1 and that marked the script of the match.

Nadal would come back to tie the set at 3-3 but Fognini would respond with another break and reach 5-4 with a chance to win the first set on his serve. But Nadal would rally again and break the serve of Fognini and force a first set tiebreak. Nadal would take the set at 7-6.

The start of the second set was a copy of the first as Fognini broke the Nadal serve to take a 3-1 lead, but this time Nadal couldn't break back and the set finished 6-3 in favor of the Italian.

Fognini’s game appeared confusing since it seemed that he did not want to move, but his racket was there quickly and in a good position to strike the ball. And without much effort, he managed to connect good strokes and add to the unforced error count of Nadal, giving him a comfortable second set win.

Both players arrived at the decisive set more focused. Each tried to minimize their errors. This time it was Nadal who broke serve to jump ahead on the scoreboard 4-2 and for the first time in the match the Spaniard showed enough confidence to connect his powerful forehand and take a decisive 5-2 lead.

Nadal served at 5-3, but the nerves of closing the match appeared which looked to cause the veteran to make untimely mistakes and the Italian gained another break.

As play continued in the central court, it seemed that anything could happen at this point. But as Fognini served to even the set, Nadal showed his fight, supported by the crowd. He played at the level he had hoped for in the previous game and fought to break back and close out the match.

While Fognini is a player that can entangle anyone, it was clear that Nadal was not at his best. His confidence and ball striking were uneven and his game was inconsistent.

Next, Nadal will face Nick Kyrgios and if he wants to win, he'll have to play much better. Kyrgios showed a high level of confidence and excelled using many resources, including his serve, which in this tournament is very important.