Paris (AFP)
Rafael Nadal launched his campaign towards a historic thirteenth coronation at Roland Garros convincingly by dominating Belarusian Egor Gerasimov (83rd) in three sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round on Monday.
Until the start of the third set, Nadal had converted the two break points he had obtained and had not conceded any.
If he ended up releasing his serve at the very beginning of the third set on a backhand fault, he immediately glued.
And won the final six games of the match, the last four after Gerasimov twisted his right ankle at the end of the race.
With 32 winning shots against 20 unforced errors struck in just over two hours, the Mallorcan makes a very clean copy.
"It's true that it's a completely different Roland Garros from usual, the weather conditions are very difficult," said Nadal.
But "I will play my matches with the most positive attitude possible, I will do my best, it's a good start," added the world No. 2.
Nadal will be opposed in the second round to American Mackenzie McDonald, 211th in the world, winner in four sets of Canadian Steven Diez (4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4) on Monday.
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