Andy Roddick was stretched to the limit during the French Open first round but eventually prevailed in a marathon five-setter.
Number six seed fights back to win in five sets
Andy Roddick was stretched to the limit by Jarkko Nieminen but eventually prevailed in a marathon five-setter in the first round of the French Open.
The three-time Wimbledon finalist showed why he has traditionally struggled on clay as he scraped a 6-2 4-6 4-6 7-6 6-3 victory.
The former world number one, who produced his best ever Roland Garros performance when reaching the round of 16 last year, was forced to come back from two sets to one down.
Roddick had looked comfortable when taking the first set but struggled as his Finnish opponent came back to level the match in the second set.
The American was coming into the contest having not played on clay yet this season and was forced firmly onto the back-foot as Nieminen found his range.
After taking the third set, Nieminen came within two points of winning the match in the fourth but Roddick battled to a gritty tie-break victory to force a decider.
Roddick grabbed a crucial break in the fifth game of set five and Nieminen then dropped his serve again to hand victory to the number six seed.
Verdasco cruises
Meanwhile, seventh seed Fernando Verdasco had a far easier progression to the second round after a 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory over Igor Kunitsyn.
The Spaniard was hardly troubled throughout the contest, breaking his opponent six times during the routine straight-sets win.
Verdasco came into the tournament in good form on clay, having won the Barcelona Open and reached the final of the Monte Carlo Masters.
And he needed only one hour and 55 minutes to dispatch the world number 103 and set up a second-round meeting with either Michael Russell or Florent Serra.
