Rafael Nadal makes winning start to French Open title defence

Rafael Nadal got the defence of his French Open title off to a winning start this afternoon thanks to a 6-3 6-3 6-4 victory over qualifier Quentin Halys.

Nadal, who is a nine-time singles champion at Roland Garros, set the tone for the match in the very first game when he broke his 18-year-old opponent.

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A second break soon followed and although Halys, making his Grand Slam tournament debut, clawed one of those back, he was unable to prevent the world number seven from opening up a one-set lead in 34 minutes.

It took Nadal until the sixth game in the second set to break and he went on to hold his remaining service games to leave him one set away from winning through.

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It was a similar story in the third set as a powerful forehand from Nadal helped him to break for a 3-2 lead, which handed him the springboard to wrap up the victory in one hour and 50 minutes.

Next up for the 28-year-old in round two will be either Nicolas Almagro or Alexandr Dolgopolov.