Nadal powers on in Paris, Tsitsipas battles through

AFP - Rafael Nadal continued the strong start to his bid for a record-extending 12th French Open title yesterday with a comfortable victory over German qualifier Yannick Maden while Stefanos Tsitsipas had to dig deep to reach round three.

The 32-year-old Nadal was in near total control against world number 114 Maden bar some nervy moments in the third set, winning 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion will play Belgian 27th seed David Goffin in the last 32.

The Spaniard wasted little time in wrapping up the first two sets on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

He finished the match with 43 winners against just 23 unforced errors. Greek star Tsitsipas did not have things all his own way against Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien on Court Simonne Mathieu, but managed to grind out a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 victory.

The 20-year-old started strongly with an early break, but appeared unsettled following a medical timeout for Dellien after the world number 86 appeared to twist his ankle.

Dellien quickly sealed the opening set, but Tsitsipas raced through the next two sets and seemingly towards victory.

Despite letting a 4-2 lead in the fourth set slip, the 25-year-old Dellien just would not go away, saving three match points from 0-40 down in the 10th game to level at 5-5.