Nadal Begins Bid for 21st Grand Slam with Straight-set Win

Third seed Rafael Nadal began his bid for a 21st Grand Slam men’s singles title with a straight-set win against Australia’s Alexei Popyrin.

The 34-year-old Spaniard, going for a record-extending 14th triumph at Roland Garros, won 6-3 6-2 7-6 (7-3).

After easing through the first two sets, Nadal fought off two set points at 5-2 in the third before recovering.

Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev is out after losing in five sets to German world number 42 Jan-Lennard Struff.

Rublev’s defeat means there is one fewer obstacle for Nadal in his side of the draw as the Spaniard seeks to set an outright record for major men’s singles titles – a record he shares with Roger Federer at present.

The Russian was the highest seed behind Nadal in their quarter, with the pair projected to meet in the last eight.

With the seedings based on the world rankings, Nadal is third behind Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev this year and has been landed with a potentially tricky draw.

For the first time, Nadal has found himself in the same half of the draw as Serbian top seed Djokovic and Switzerland’s Federer, who looked impressive on his return to Grand Slam tennis after a 16-month injury lay-off.

Rublev, 23, has been one of the most in-form players on the ATP Tour over the past couple of seasons, boasting the second highest number of match wins in 2021 going into Roland Garros.

That tally included a pair of victories over 31-year-old Struff in the ATP Cup and the Italian Open, only for the German to avenge those defeats on the biggest stage.

Struff won the first two sets and, after Rublev fought back to level, maintained his composure to seal his first win over a top-10 player at a Grand Slam.