French Open: Rafael Nadal starts campaign by defeating Yannick Hanfmann in first round

Rafael Nadal had an ideal start to his French Open campaign as he defeated Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round match on Monday.

Chasing his 12th Roland Garros title, the world number two outclassed Hanfmann in the first-round match that lasted for an hour and 57 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Nadal, playing on his familiar territory of clay, looked in an impeccable form on the court, making attacking moves forcing Hanfmann to work hard for every point.

The Spaniard fired 20 winners and 15 unforced errors keeping Hanfmann on 17 direct points and some 30 errors as his defence and general pace proved to be too much for the qualifier to handle.

The second seed Nadal stole half the return points and he earned five break points to control the scoreboard all the time.

Yannick was not able to break Nadal's defence. The Spaniard was able to land 17 out of his 19 serves and as a result, he gained the upper hand in set number two.

Nothing much changed in the final set, as Nadal maintained his tight grip on the match and he was able to take advantage of some terrible forehand play from the German.

As a result of this win, Nadal has now progressed to the second round of the French Open.

Meanwhile, Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer progressed to the second round of the French Open on Sunday as he defeated Lorenzo Sonego 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round match.