 Nadal suffered the same injury in the Wimbledon final |
Rafael Nadal shrugged off a knee injury to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-3 and book a place in the last eight of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. The Spanish world number two suffered a similar problem to the one he picked up at Wimbledon early in his match against the home favourite.
"It was the same as in the final, I had a piercing pain and began to doubt if I could play on," said Nadal.
Third seed Tomas Berdych lost 6-0 6-3 to Feliciano Lopez.
Nadal will now face Argentine eighth seed Juan Monaco, who defeated Austria's Stefan Koubek 6-2 3-6 6-3, while sixth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero overcame Argentina's Diego Hartfield 6-4 1-6 6-3.
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"I felt this stab of pain and I held myself back at first on the court and then it got better," Nadal added.
"I believe I can keep going. Maybe it's not 100%, but it's pretty good."
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