Paris (AFP)
Rafael Nadal was seriously jostled for his debut at the Masters 1000 in Paris but the Spaniard obtained the thousandth victory of his prestigious career against his compatriot Feliciano Lopez (64th) in three sets 4-6, 7-6 (7 / 5), 6-4 Wednesday evening.
This thousandth match won in two and a half hours by Nadal (34) comes eighteen years after his very first, in 2002 in Mallorca.
Only three other players have reached this symbolic milestone in the Open era (since 1968), Jimmy Connors (1274), Roger Federer (1242) and Ivan Lendl (1068).
In the round of 16, the world No. 2, seeded No. 1 in the Paris tournament in the absence of Novak Djokovic, will be opposed to the Australian Jordan Thompson on Thursday.
For more than an hour and a half, Lopez was uncompromising on the serve and did not allow Nadal to grab it: the Spanish veteran (39) hit sixteen aces in the first two sets, and even gained 93% of the points behind his first ball in the first.
He also dismissed the six break points that Nadal got.
Deprived of pace for his return to competition three weeks after his astronomical thirteenth coronation at Roland Garros, the Mallorcan has let out some signs of nervousness but has been able to be patient and not give in to frustration.
He took his chance in the tie-breaker, on his third set point, after Lopez courageously dismissed the first two at the net.
The scenario was reversed in the third round: after having made the entry break, it was "Rafa" who prevented his opponent from coming back to the end.
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