Nadal advances after winning to French wildcard on Day 3 in Paris

Four-time former champion Rafael Nadal opened his Roland Garros campaign with a commanding 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory over 18-year-old French wild card Gianni Mina Tuesday in Paris.

The Spaniard came into the clay-court Grand Slam in red-hot form and was more than a match for the youngest player in the draw, Mina, who was making his debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam championship.

In front of a packed Court Suzanne Lenglen, last year’s junior boy’s finalist, Mina, impressed the French crowd with his attacking style, but ultimately paid the price for being unable to convert any of the nine break points he created on Nadal’s serve. The second-seeded Nadal was far more potent on his opportunities, breaking serve six times as his greater experience of playing the big points shone through and he wrapped up victory in two hours and 23 minutes.

"First day here is always a little bit more nervous than usual," said Nadal. "I think I played bad, but I won anyway, without problems, so that's always important and positive thing. But I think I can do it a lot better, much better next round."

Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick rallied from two-sets-to-one down Tuesday as he battled past Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 in a thrilling first-round encounter at Roland Garros.

The American was contesting his first tournament since winning the Sony Ericsson Open in early April and narrowly avoided a fifth first-round exit at Roland Garros.

Roddick looked to be on his way to a comfortable win after assuming a one-set lead, but Nieminen fought back with one break of the famed Roddick serve in each of the second and third sets to establish a two-sets-to-one lead.

"There was a lot of ugliness out there today. But at the end of it, I get to play again," said Roddick. "So that's that's all you go into a day hoping to do, and I got through today.

"After Madrid (where he withdrew ill), I did pretty much everything I could to be prepared here. But I didn't play my best today, and I definitely wasn't match tough. I've been saying all week if I can get through the first one or the second one, then maybe I will start hitting my stride and playing a little bit better. But it's just a matter of surviving to advance. Today I guess I found a way to get through it."


Tuesday, 25 May 2010

Singles - First Round
[2] R Nadal (ESP) d G Mina (FRA) 62 62 62
[6] A Roddick (USA) d J Nieminen (FIN) 62 46 46 76(4) 63
[7] F Verdasco (ESP) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 64 62 62
[9] D Ferrer (ESP) d D Guez (FRA) 61 63 61
[16] J Ferrero (ESP) d P Cuevas (URU) 64 63 61
R Ginepri (USA) d [18] S Querrey (USA) 46 76(3) 64 62
[22] J Melzer (AUT) d D Sela (ISR) 75 62 64
G Zemlja (SLO) d [26] J Monaco (ARG) 76(6) 36 75 63
[28] L Hewitt (AUS) d J Chardy (FRA) 75 60 64
[30] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d K Beck (SVK) 76(7) 61 61
N Mahut (FRA) d M Zverev (GER) 61 62 64
P Riba (ESP) d M Gicquel (FRA) 63 62 76(5)
A Seppi (ITA) d S Ventura (ESP) 75 64 75
B Kavcic (SLO) d E Schwank (ARG) 36 63 75 40 ret. (heat stroke)
D Istomin (UZB) d B Becker (GER) 75 75 63
F Serra (FRA) d M Russell (USA) 64 60 61
T Gabashvili (RUS) d D Koellerer (AUT) 62 62 61
H Zeballos (ARG) d M Fischer (AUT) 76(6) 67(8) 16 64 86
P Starace (ITA) d I Marchenko (UKR) 67(5) 61 63 63
X Malisse (BEL) vs S Greul (GER) - To Finish 64 76(7) 1-1