Live Commentary: French Open: Rafael Nadal vs. Fabio Fognini - as it happened

Thanks for joining me for this one and be sure to join Matt Cotton soon for Novak Djokovic. Nadal moves on to face Nishikori - who will punish him if he plays like this. Goodbye!

GAME, SET AND MATCH! Two errors from Fognini give Nadal a 30-0 advantage. Then Nadal comes to the net with a fine drop shot that his opponent can only return into it. Three match points... And finally he gets there. It wasn't vintage Nadal, but he did just about enough.

Nadal goes up 0-30 but again Fognini fights back. Nadal goes long, unforced, and now has to serve again. Surely he won't bottle it twice in a row? Fognini can really play, especially now he has nothing to lose.

BREAK! He doesn't know when he's beaten, does he? A break to love gets one of them back for the Italian - a rare show of nerves from Nadal.

Three break points Fognini...

Brilliant at the net from Fognini! He angles a volley that is coming straight at him back into the empty court for 0-30. Why's he deciding to play now?

Fantastic point there as Nadal is given the runaround before almost finding the corner with a lob.

At least he's not giving it up completely. Fognini plays some powerful shots in a service game to 15, which means Nadal has the ball to serve for the match.

He's incredibly frustrated with himself now, Fognini, who reaches a Nadal drop shot but cannot put it back over the net. At 30-30 he fires another unforced error long and Nadal wraps up the game with a big ace. It's almost done now - Fognini serving to stay in the French Open.

BREAK! He gets between the tramlines this time, but cannot clear the net to give Nadal three break points. Nadal goes long, then into the net and finally long again as the Italian recovers to save all three. Nadal edges ahead again with the advantage, with Fognini hitting long once more. Double break for Nadal, who now needs just two more games.

Is Nadal closing in on the kill here? He moves 0-30 up after two errors from Fognini hitting the ball wide.

There's definitely a sense that this one is over, as Fognini starts to challenge but then largely hands the game to Nadal.

That's a good response from the Italian, who takes a comfortable service game to get on the board in the set. He'll need all his service games to be like that as well as putting up more fight in Nadal's to get back in the match though.

From that point he doesn't look back and wraps up a service game to hold the break. You'd be a fool to back Fognini from here. It's a shame, as he's been brilliant at times - but not for long spells.

What an unbelievable shot from Nadal! Fognini is favourite to go 0-30 up but that spinning forehand clips the line.

BREAK! Fognini continues to blow hot and cold. One minute he's hitting a winner, the next the net. Nadal gets exactly what he wants with an early break - the Italian is in big trouble now.

SET! It has suddenly got very windy out there and Nadal is dealing with it much better. That said, a couple of nice shots sees the Italian go 15-30 up. A booming forehand wins him two break points and oh dear! What a chance with a volley for Fognini to break, but he cannot get it over the net. Stunning from Nadal to save the second - he kept getting it on his backhand but finally got the power to force the net shot from Fognini. It wasn't easy, but Nadal does enough to take the set and surely that is that?

But he won't win it on Fognini's serve! The Italian holds very comfortably indeed to force the Spaniard to do the honours.

An unlikely Nadal double fault sets up break point for Fognini, but he can't take advantage as he nets a backhand and Rafa wraps up the game to move one away from a two-set lead.

The first love game is followed up by the second as Fognini recovers well. He played some good shots there and returned to the form from the first set - can he keep it up though and win the break back?

There's a danger that this will fall away from Fognini very quickly indeed. He looks a beaten man out there as Nadal cruises to what might even be his first love service game of the match so far.

BREAK! Nadal is still finding it hard to get points on the Fognini serve - the Italian has matched him for forehand power today. Most of the Spaniard's points are coming from errors - it has to be said that's exactly what I expected from Fognini today. That sums it up; Fognini sets up a winner with a volley but puts it wide to gift Nadal a break. A probably crucial one, too.

However, Nadal battles back with a serve and volley point and a clean forehand winner. Then he takes the game with possibly his best winner of the match, that was just a couple of centimetres over the net and curled into court.

Now Fognini is 0-30 up on the Nadal serve following a wide backhand by the Spaniard...

More brilliant defence from Nadal, but this time Fognini wins the point and plays to the crowd afterwards - that's how good he needs to remain. Nadal follows up with a quite incredible defensive lob that lands right on the line. Fognini hits the net a couple of points running and is starting to berate himself. He's hit 31 winners, the Italian, but has been just too inconsistent, however he somehow saves several break points to hold serve.

This game has gone to so many deuces and still there is no sign of a winner!

Fognini wins the first point with a drop shot followed by a lob - exhibition stuff from the Italian. He follows that up with another fine backhand that flashed down the line and Rafa didn't even move. However, the Spaniard fights back and levels the game with a trademark forehand. It goes to deuce and Nadal gets advantage with some just brilliant defence with the Italian then hitting the net. Nadal eventually claims the game, but he's looked far from impressive.

It's a reasonably comfortable hold first up for the Italian, and that's just what he needed. If Nadal gets an early break he could start to run away with it.

SET! Nadal gets it! There was another fine drop shot in that last point and overall he did just enough in the set. Fognini will feel hard-done by, however. Nadal finally claims an opening set in this year's French Open.

SET! Nadal gets it! There was another fine drop shot in that last point and overall he did just enough in the set. Fognini will feel hard-done by, however. Nadal finally claims an opening set in this year's French Open.

Nadal *6-5 Fognini - fifth set point for Nadal...

Nadal 6-4* Fognini

Nadal 5-4* Fognini - What a point! Drop shots, baseline hits and even a volleyed lob from Rafa are what it took to take that one!

Nadal *4-4 Fognini

Nadal *4-3 Fognini

Nadal 4-2* Fognini

Nadal 3-2* Fognini

Nadal *3-1 Fognini - lovely drop shot, really well played.

Nadal *2-1 Fognini

Nadal 1-1* Fognini

Nadal 1-0* Fognini

BREAK! Emphatic first point from Nadal, who comes to the net to smash 0-15 ahead. He carries on in the same spirit and a wide drop shot from Fognini confirms the Spaniard's break back. We're going to a breaker.

BREAK! What a turnaround! There's suddenly nothing Nadal can do to stop Fognini. From three set points down he'll now serve for the first!

A good start from Fognini and a promising sign as he wins another rally, but Rafa fights back with a booming forehand winner. Fognini responds with a huge backhand from the corner of the baseline. With two game points he hits a bouncing one into the net, before offering up a simple forehand for Nadal to bring it to deuce - poor shot. The Spaniard earns a set point but can't capitalise as he goes long on a forehand, with Fognini earning advantage with a forehand just an inch over the net. Both men are hammering it from the baseline but neither can claim the game, but finally Fognini takes it with another big backhand after saving three set points.

Fognini has just gone off the boil now - he's no longer at his best, which means that Nadal is comfortably on top. That said, the Italian shows some fight by winning a fine point with a cross-court backhand winner. The damage was already done, though, and now he's serving to stay in the set after he was 4-2 up.

BREAK! Nadal senses blood and moves 15-30 ahead, but throws away all his good work by hitting a backhand long. Then Fognini closes in, but he too makes an unforced error by hitting a smash long at the net - he needed to let that bounce first it was so high. This time Nadal does not pass up the break point, as Fognini hits the net and we're back level.

At 30-15 Fognini plops up a smash for Nadal and just walks back to the service line, knowing he had no hope of winning the point. Nadal holds emphatically with some big hitting, but still needs to earn back that break.

Nadal tries to battle back for the break but Fognini is just too good at the moment. The Italian holds after deuce to consolidate his break. Is Nadal about to lose his third straight opening set?

BREAK! Magic from Fognini who gets to a cross-court pass to control a volley back in the direction it came! What a shot. It moves him up 0-30 and then he stays in a rally, defending well, until Nadal goes wide to give him three break points. Then it's Nadal turn to defend and Fognini this time goes wide with the attempted winner. Nadal saves a second break point but there's nothing he can do about the volley at the net from Fognini who gets the first break!

Fognini thinks he has the point after crafting it nicely and coming to the net but there's that Nadal forehand pass, which spins and clips the line for a superb winner. His backhand's not bad either as he forces the error for another break point, but Fognini matches it with a fine backhand of his own. The Italian manages to hold again, but Nadal won't be passing up too many more break points you wouldn't think.

Fognini almost offers the perfect response to the Nadal forehand by pinging a backhand millimetres wide. It's a much more comfortable service game for Nadal, though, and he is the better player at the moment.

Fognini isn't afraid of attacking Nadal, but another error on the first point sees him put a simple forehand long. More really good baseline hitting from both men, but Fognini puts it out of bounds to give Nadal an early break point. He puts a backhand into the tramlines and it's deuce, which turns to advantage with a lovely stop volley on top of the net. Good hold from Fognini under pressure.

It was a good start from the Italian, who had Nadal on the run but then went long with the finish. He's not afraid of a rally, though, as two Nadal errors put the Italian 15-30 up. Nadal gets ahead in the game with a fine reaching backhand that bounced right at his opponent's feet and the Spaniard wraps up the game by forcing an error with a big forehand.

Nadal to serve first, let's go.

Just a reminder of that staggering record of Nadal's. He lost in the final in his debut season here and has won every single match since. He was injured for 2009, when Roger Federer won, and has 54 wins from 55. It is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Here we go then, we're about to get underway.

The warm-ups are nearly done as clouds begin to descend on the court. It's not expected to rain, however, so hopefully they will pass.

Nadal was furious after his last match against Klizan that Fognini has had so long to prepare for this one. He said: "Today I was playing almost three hours on court, and my opponent was watching the TV in the locker room.

"So if you told me that's fair, I say that's not fair. The only thing that I can do is be positive, smile, and try to win my match and try to be ready for tomorrow."

Fognini also faced a German opponent in the first round - Andreas Beck - who he beat in straight sets. Then he beat the tricky Lukas Rosol dropping just one set on the way. The players are making their way out on to court, so we aren't too far away from the start.

Flashy and often inconsistent, Fognini has reached his highest career ranking this year. He was up to 24 at the end of April this year, but has since dropped to 29. With Nadal already having dropped two sets the signs are that he's mortal this year - and the Italian is the sort of player who has the talent to take advantage.

The winner of this one will go into the fourth round to face Kei Nishikori. Of course that's expected to be Nadal, but the Italian will be no pushover.

He's the master of clay but has very much yet to show it so far. It's usually unheard of that Nadal drops a set until the very latter stages here in Paris, but he has dropped the first in each of his previous two encounters - against Daniel Brands and Martin Klizan respectively.

Hello everyone and thanks for joining me for some third round French Open action. Next up on Philippe Chatrier is defending champions Rafael Nadal. He's up against Fabio Fognini.