PARIS - Playing in a five-set match at Roland Garros for the first time in his career, No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain survived a scare from American John Isner before pulling out a

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Five-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal needed close to four hours and five sets to pull out a first-round victory over John Isner.

PARIS - Playing in a five-set match at Roland Garros for the first time in his career, No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain survived a scare from American John Isner before pulling out a 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4 victory in the first round.

Nadal, the defending champion, fell down two sets to one with Isner using his commanding serve to dominate the second- and third-set tiebreaks, but he finally found a way to counter the power and bounce back to take the match. A five-time French Open winner, Nadal improved his career record at the event to 39-1 and next will play fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar in the second round.

Coming to net on about a third of the points he played initially paid off for Isner, but Nadal picked up his passing accuracy as the match progressed and staved off the upset. While Isner converted his lone break point chance on Nadal's serve, he was broken five times himself.