Nadal stumbles through to French Open third round

Reuters: Defending champion Rafa Nadal stuttered for the second time so far at the French Open before moving through to the third round with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory over Slovakia’s Martin Klizan on Friday.

The Spaniard, looking for his eighth Roland Garros title, looked ill at ease as fellow left hander Klizan came out swinging and dropped the first set before raising his game enough to claim victory in two hours 44 minutes.

Thursday’s heavy rain meant the match was one of several second round ties held over and having not played since Monday, Nadal was clearly not firing on all cylinders.