Rafael Nadal overcomes Daniel Brands

Rafael Nadal opened up his French Open campaign with a 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-3 victory over Germany's Daniel Brands in Paris this afternoon.

The two players shared the opening eight games evenly, but a shock appeared to be on the cards when Brands broke for a 5-4 lead, before holding his composure to serve out for the first set.

The second set was also evenly contested, which meant that a tie-breaker was required to determine a victor. It was Nadal who eventually took control with a break to go 5-4 up and he went on to level up proceedings at one-set all.

Seven-time champion Nadal was now in the ascendancy and an early break of serve in the next two sets allowed him to run out a four-set winner.

He will now take on either Michael Russell or Martin Klizan for a place in round three.