The 37-year-old is building his fitness for the French Open next month.
Rafael Nadal battled into the fourth round of the Madrid Open with a hard-fought win over Argentina’s Pedro Cachin.
“I’m enjoying the fact that I’m playing at home because it means everything to me and I’m trying my best to keep dreaming – and tomorrow is another day.” Cachin looked on the verge of forcing a decider with another break but once again he wilted and Nadal hit back, the old warrior spirit coming to the fore as he celebrated taking the set to a tie-break with four fist pumps.But an audible groan went up from the crowd when Cachin brought up a set-point on the Nadal serve and passed the veteran to level the match.
World number four Daniil Medvedev dropped the first set against American Sebastian Korda but hit back to win 5-7 7-6 6-3.