Nadal makes winning start to treble quest

PARIS, May 29 (Reuters) Rafael Nadal began his quest for a rare French Open treble with a 7-5 6-3 6-2 victory over former sparring partner Juan Martin Del Potro today.

World number two Nadal, attempting to become the first man to win three successive titles at Roland Garros since Bjorn Borg in 1980, overcame a first-set challenge and then turned on the power to cruise through to the second round.

Del Potro, 18, who has known Nadal for years and trained with him before last year's French Open, had a fantastic start.

The Argentine, who is ranked 59th in the world, broke Nadal in the eighth game to serve for the set.

He then showed signs of nerves for the first time in the match.

Nadal, seeded second, broke back and then won the next three games, taking the set with a superb backhand winner after just over an hour.

The 20-year-old Nadal, whose 81-match streak on clay was ended by Roger Federer in the Hamburg final earlier this month, opened up a 4-0 lead in the second set.

With Del Potro still fighting but slowly running out of steam, the pair then traded breaks until Nadal wrapped up the set.

The muscular Spaniard stayed on top in the third set, breaking the Argentine in the fourth game and again in the eighth and sealing victory with Del Potro hitting a forehand wide on the second match point to bow out after two hours and 19 minutes.

Nadal will next face Italian Flavio Cipolla or Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili.

REUTERS SBA BST0101