Spaniard Rafael Nadal reached the quarterfinals of the Aegon Championships, after he defeated the spirited Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in three sets 7-6 (4) 4-6 6-4 in a rain-delayed match, lasted three hours and 53 minutes.

Nadal avoided a defeat by holding on to his nerves at the crucial moments and converted the third match point to emerge victorious at last. Istomin played beautifully and impressed with his serve and volley game that caused the main problems for the world no. 1.

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Nadal took the first set in a tiebreak 7-4, and then lost the second set 4-6 to the big server. In the decider, the five-time French Open champion Nadal wrapped it up 6-4.

After the match, Nadal quoted “it wasn't easy for me.” He further added “the day was difficult, too, a lot of wind. The positive thing is I was there mentally in the third. I finished the match playing better and winning the match.

The Mallorcan praised Istomin, as he said, "he's a good player. I think his game adapts very well to this surface. He plays flat and has a good serve. I think he can have good result in Wimbledon if he keep playing like this. My serve today was worse than the last few days, and I lost the serve three times, so that's too much, I think, to play well on this surface in three sets."

Nadal's next opponent is his compatriot Feliciano Lopez, as the eighth seed beat French Julien Benneteau 6-2, 6-4.

In another match, Michael Llodra, the No. 12 seed knocked out fifth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-6(2) 6-2 in 82 minutes. On the other hand, the match between defending champion Andy Murray and Mardy Fish was suspended due to poor lights with the score was balanced at 4-6 6-1 3-3.