Ferrer comes back from the brink to reach Rotterdam second round

Feb 10, 2009, 14:32 GMT

Rotterdam, Netherlands - Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer recovered his form after a weekend flight from South Africa to overhaul Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 for a spot in the second round of the ABN-AMRO World Tennis on Tuesday.

The Spaniard overcame seven double-faults to prevail for the third time without a loss against the Austrian, coming back from a set and 4-1 down in the second-set tiebreaker.

Ferrer, ranked 13th, improved his record in 2009 to 7-3, breaking four times while losing his own service on three occasions in the two-hour, 17-minute victory.

Teenaged Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, holder of current junior Grand Slam titles from Wimbledon and New York, advanced into a possible second-round clash with Rafael Nadal - assuming the top seed can get past Italy's Simone Bolelli on Wednesday night.

The 17-year-old Dimitrov, ranked 487th, defeated Czech Tomas Berdych 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Coaching the youngster is new mentor Peter Lundgren, who last worked with Marcos Baghdatis until the end of last season.

Dimitrov was playing only his second ATP-level match, but has been steeled by December fitness training in Las Vegas with Gil Reyes, fitness guru of Andre Agassi.

Daimtrov and Nadal have trained together on occasion. 'He's never given me any tips, but just working with him and watching his game is tips enough - his practice sessions are crazy,' said the teenager. 'If I play Nadal it will show me what I have to work on in my game.'

Nadal will be aiming for a flying start to the Rotterdam week after resting for only a few days following his Australian open title over Roger Federer little more than a week ago.

The world number one lost in the Rotterdam second round last year.