Rafael Nadal, the best tennis player in the world today, needed to save five match points before defeating the Argentine David Nalbandian 3-6 7-6 6-0 to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Masters Series at Indian Wells.

Nadal had to whether a 3-6 loss before he took the next two in straight sets.

After breaking in to a 3-2 lead on the second set, Nalbandian had four match points on Nadal’s serve in the ninth game and when he tried to serve out at 5-4.

But Nalbandian could not eliminate Nadal’s hunger to win. Nadal converted the final match point to his eight break point leveling the set 5-5.

The Spaniard took control of the tiebreak as Nalbandian wilted.

Nadal will is now matched against sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro, who defeated American wild card John Isner in straight sets.