No defending men’s singles champion at Roland Garros has ever lost in the opening round, but Stan Wawrinka looked like he might become the first after finding himself down two sets to one on Monday against Lukas Rosol.

The No. 3 seed admitted to struggling with his form and the inspired play of his opponent, but found a way to win when he wasn’t playing his best. He saved two break points at 2-2 in the deciding set and went on to prevail in the marathon encounter, 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“I didn’t play my best tennis in general. A lot of mistakes. But he was playing really well and going for his shots,” said Wawrinka. “He didn’t miss much until he started to get a little tired in the fourth set. Before that, I was always under pressure. I’m still looking for my game because the conditions didn’t allow me to play the way I wanted to.”

The Swiss star has experience to draw from this fortnight in trying to defend a Grand Slam title, having experienced the same pressure at last year’s Australian Open. Although plenty of attention is focused on Wawrinka as he tries to win a second Roland Garros title, he said he doesn’t feel any added expectations this year.

“For me, it’s not a big deal to come back after winning. I come like it’s a new tournament, a new Grand Slam, a new year,” said Wawrinka. “When I entered the court, I had all the memories of winning from last year. But after that, I was there to beat Rosol and play a first round in tough conditions, so I was focused on my match.”

Wawrinka admits he will need to improve his form in order to continuing moving forward this year at Roland Garros. But by surviving his match today against Rosol, he’s happy to have the chance to try and do that. 

“It’s never the best to start with a five-set match and not play your best tennis. You always want to play good tennis and win matches in three sets,” he said. “It wasn’t easy for me to get into the match, but I found a solution. Now I have a chance to keep improving for the rest of the tournament.”

It took two days and overcoming two rain delays, but Kei Nishikori earned his 50^th Grand Slam win on Monday at Roland Garros. The fifth seed moved into the second round by fending off Italian veteran Simone Bolelli 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 in a continuation of their match that started on Sunday.

The Japanese erased three of four break points and hit 30 winners to advance in Paris. Nishikori is looking to surpass his career-best showing at Roland Garros, a quarter-finals appearance last year.

The 26 year old has experienced clay-court success, including two titles in Barcelona, but has yet to reach deep into the second week in Paris. The World No. 6 has reached past the second round only twice, last year and in 2013 when he made the fourth round.

Nishikori will face Andrey Kuznetsov in the second round. Kuznetsov, No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, beat German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday. Nishikori was down 6-4, 3-1 when he retired from his only prior meeting against Kuznetsov, on grass at Eastbourne in 2010.

Defending champion Stan Wawrinka is in trouble in the first round at Roland Garros on Monday. After rain delayed the start of play by over three hours, Wawrinka finds himself in a hole against Lukas Rosol, with the Czech leading 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Wawrinka and Rosol meet again just four days after they played in the Geneva semi-finals, when the Swiss prevailed before going on to win his first ATP World Tour title on home soil with victory over Marin Cilic in the final.

The 30-year-old Rosol is no stranger to pulling off huge Grand Slam upsets, having shocked Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon second round in 2012. The Czech broke for a 3-2 lead before going on to seal the opener against Wawrinka.

Wawrinka looked to be back on track when he raced through the second set to level the match, but Rosol again took an early lead in the third set and did not allow Wawrinka back in contention as he assumed a two-sets-to-one lead.

The 31-year-old Wawrinka won his second Grand Slam championship in Paris last year, when he denied Novak Djokovic the career Grand Slam by beating the Serb in an enthralling display in the final.

Grand Slam glory isn’t the only prize on the line for doubles players at Roland Garros. Five men are in contention to reach the pinnacle of the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, with World No. 1 on the line for Marcelo Melo, Nicolas Mahut, Jamie Murray, Horia Tecau and Bob Bryan.

Melo, the current No. 1 and reigning Roland Garros champion with Ivan Dodig, and Bob Bryan, a two-time winner in Paris (2003 & ’13) with brother Mike, must lift the trophy for a chance at the top spot. Murray, who spent five weeks at No. 1 earlier this year, claimed his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January (w/Soares). Tecau and home hope Mahut, meanwhile, are bidding to become the 49th different World No. 1 since the doubles rankings began in 1976.

No. 1 Doubles Scenarios

Defending champions Dodig and Melo are bidding for their first tour-level crown of the season. Seeded third, they find themselves is a tricky quarter of the draw, with No. 6 seeds and Mutua Madrid Open runners-up Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea, 11th seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers and 13th seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Kontinen and Peers are coming off a title run in Munich a month ago, while the Colombian power of Cabal/Farah lifted their third trophy of the season on Saturday in Nice.

Three years ago, Mahut came up just short of achieving glory at his home Grand Slam, falling in a deciding tie-break in the Roland Garros doubles final with Michael Llodra. Now, with partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the French duo enter the 2016 edition of the clay-court major as the players to beat. The top seeds open against Sam Groth and Bernard Tomic in their quest for a second Grand Slam crown. The 2015 US Open titlists could face seventh seeds Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in a blockbuster quarter-final. They are hoping to become the second French duo to lift the Coupe Jacques Brugnon in three years, after Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin prevailed in 2014. Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin received a wild card this year, with Pospisil/Sock looming as potential second-round opponents.

Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor own the most Roland Garros doubles titles in the Open Era, with four apiece. Champion in 2005-06 (w/Bjorkman) and 2011-12 (w/Nestor), Mirnyi is seeded 10th this year alongside Treat Huey. The Belarusian-Filipino tandem open against Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi. Nestor, the titlist in 2007 (w/Knowles), ’10 (w/Zimonjic) and ’11-12 (w/Mirnyi), is teaming with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. They could face second seeds and reigning Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the third round.

Other former Roland Garros doubles champions in the draw are the Bryans (2003, ’13), Nenad Zimonjic (2010) and Leander Paes (1999, ’01, ’09). All are in the same quarter, with 16-time Grand Slam champion Bryan brothers entering on the heels of title runs in Barcelona and Rome. Zimonjic is partnering with Radek Stepanek, while Paes is joining forces with Marcin Matkowski. Also in the loaded quarter of the draw are Australian Open titlists and fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. A blockbuster second-round match-up could feature Stepanek and Zimonjic squaring off against the #NextGen duo of Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev.

In the last 10 Grand Slam tournaments, there have been 10 different teams and 20 different players win a title. The doubles competition gets underway on Tuesday.

A LOOK BACK

Venice Challenge Save Cup (Mestre, Italy): No. 4 seed Gastao Elias of Portugal continued his outstanding form in 2016 by prevailing over No. 3 seed Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 7-6(0), 6-2 in Sunday’s Mestre final. This was the fourth ATP Challenger Tour final this year between Top 100 players, compared to six for the entire 2015 season. Elias also prevailed in Italy last month at the $50,000 event in Turin, which allowed him to crack the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in his career. He has now won 11 of his last 12 ATP Challenger Tour matches.

Multiple Title Winners In 2016

Zeballos broke through this week by reaching his first ATP Challenger Tour final of the year, snapping a five match losing streak in semi-finals that dates back to last October.

KPN Renewables Bangkok Open (Bangkok, Thailand): No. 8 seed James Duckworth picked up his first ATP Challenger Tour title of the year by defeating qualifier Sam Barry of Ireland, 7-6(5), 6-4. Playing in his first Challenger since January due to an elbow injury, Duckworth showed resilience throughout the week by rallying from a set down in three of his matches to get to the final. This is the third ATP Challenger Tour title of the 24-year-old’s career, with his last coming in November 2014 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Aussies are also now 4-0 this year in Challenger finals, with Jordan Thompson and Blake Mott also lifting trophies. 

Despite the loss, the week was a positive for Barry in reaching his first ATP Challenger Tour final. The 24-year-old had only won two main draw matches at the Challenger level prior to his run in Bangkok.

A LOOK AHEAD

The lone tournament on the calendar this week is the $50,000 event in Vicenza, Italy. Elias will look for his third ATP Challenger Tour title of the year as the No. 1 seed, while Daniel Brands of Germany is the No. 2 seed. Other notable names in the draw include #NextGen star Andrey Rublev of Russia, rising American teenager Stefan Kozlov and former Top 50 player Andrey Golubev, a winner earlier this year in Jonkoping, Sweden.

View Draws & Watch Free Live Streams

ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: New in 2016, the ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is enjoying a stretch of significant milestones. The Serb is poised to begin his 200th week atop the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday, with his quest for a maiden Roland Garros title commencing a day later.

But first, a birthday celebration was in order for the 29 year old. On Sunday, Djokovic was presented with a cake by tournament director Guy Forget and was given a special birthday message from his No. 1 fan, Micaela Bryan, daughter of Bob Bryan.

Watch:

.@DjokerNole Happy Birthday from your biggest fan, me! ???#NoleFam #rg16 pic.twitter.com/ko9RLAaBQk

— Micaela Bryan (@MicaelaBryan) May 22, 2016

Djokovic Celebrates 29th Birthday

Djokovic opens his bid for the Career Grand Slam on Tuesday against Yen-Hsun Lu. It is their second meeting, with the Belgrade native prevailing in straight sets in the 2010 Wimbledon quarter-finals.