Basel, Switzerland: Third-seeded Rafael Nadal battled back from a break down in the final set to defeat Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the Swiss Indoors quarter-finals. But second seed Stan Wawrinka suffered his eighth first round loss at the tournament as the French Open champion slumped to a 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 defeat to Ivo Karlovic.


Rafael Nadal. Pic/AFP

Nadal won the opening set against Dimitrov but dropped the second after leading 4-2. When he dropped serve in the opening game of the third set on a double-fault, the situation looked grim for the Spaniard. But the 14-time major winner broke back for 5-3 with a winning overhead, serving out the tight victory a game later after more than two hours on court. "This was another very tough match, I had to fight," said Nadal.