RAFAEL NADAL came within one point of losing his first set at the French Open since 2019 as he opened his campaign for a 14th title in Paris with victory over Alexei Popyrin.

The young Australian went for broke against the third seed and had two set points at 5-3 in the third only to double fault on the first and shank a smash on the second.

That proved to be his final chance to land a meaningful blow, and Nadal went on to record a 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory, setting up a second-round clash with old rival Richard Gasquet.

The Spaniard was not unduly worried, saying: “Of course I don’t want to lose the set at all, but that’s part of the game.

“You face a player who’s decided to go for every shot, so you are in trouble. If he’s having success like he did with his serve, then it’s difficult to have breaks, and then you are in a tricky position.

“But here, especially on clay, the matches are best-of-five, the matches are long, and it’s difficult to hold that kind of level for such a long time playing with this kind of risk.”

Novak Djokovic was given night-time billing against American Tennys Sandgren and wasted no time wrapping up a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory to set up a second-round clash with Pablo Cuevas.

The world number one said: “I’m honoured to be the first men’s match in the night session ever at Roland Garros. It was quite different I must say, a little bit strange to play under the lights.

“In front of an empty stadium unfortunately but I’m looking forward to the next match, hopefully I can have some crowd on the court as well.”

(SD-Agencies)