Fourteen-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal beat Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber to advance to the round-of-16 at the Miami Open on Sunday.

However, it was one of the most unusual victories for Nadal as he lost the first set 0-6 to stun the onlookers and even his opponent to a certain extent. The Spaniard, though, fought back to win 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 in his 1000th career match. With the win, he improved his record to 37-11 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, one of only three Masters 1000 events Nadal is yet to win.

“One thousand matches is a lot of matches. Obviously that’s good news because that says I am having a long career. During a lot of years, I heard that I’m going to have a short career, so it’s something important for me,” said Nadal. “I remember the first match very well because it was at home in Mallorca. It was my first victory on the ATP and was a great feeling.”

The four-time finalist at Miami will meet Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, who beat Argentine Guido Pella 6-4, 6-3. However, Kohlschreiber came out all guns blazing as he outclassed Nadal with authority in the first set. “He was doing everything good, so that’s sport, When somebody is playing the way that he was playing that first set, I lose the set because he was playing too good. That’s it,” said Nadal. “But a match is long and the positive thing is I held the pressure well this afternoon after a very tough first set. I resisted well in the first few games of the second set and then I think I played a great second and third set.”

It has been more than two years since Nadal lost any set 6-0, since his 2015 Australian Open quarter-final loss against Tomas Berdych. The last time Nadal had been bagelled in the first set was way back in January 2008, when he lost 0-6, 1-6 to Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny in Chennai.