Tennis-Nadal up and running in Paris with win over Popyrin

[ASFN Admin]

Rafa Nadal launched his bid for a record-extending 14th French Open title with a straight-sets win over young Australian Alexei Popyrin on Tuesday but it was not as routine as the 6-3 6-2 7-6(3) scoreline suggests. The Spaniard was quickly into the old routine against the hard-hitting 21-year-old but Popyrin should have become the first person to take a set off on Parisian clay since Dominic Thiem in the 2019 final. Popyrin stayed in the contest early on with some fierce hitting but when he dropped serve in the seventh game Nadal assumed control and appeared to be on course for a quick win on a sunlit Philippe Chatrier court.

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