Rafa battles through in New York

Rafael Nadal was forced to work for his first round win at the US Open, with Feliciano Lopez one of two seeds to crash out on day one.

The Spaniard, playing in a Grand Slam for the first time as world number one, won his opening match in straight sets against Bjorn Phau of Germany but it wasn't easy for the Wimbledon champion.
Nadal was forced into two tie-breaks by his opponent but eventually prevailed, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 7-6 (7-4), and will now play American Ryler De Heart in the second round.
Elsewhere, fourth seed David Ferrer and seventh seed David Nalbandian went through comfortably with wins over Martin Vassalo Arguello and Marcos Daniel respectively.
Ninth seed James Blake needed five sets to beat fellow American Donald Young, while tenth seed Stanislas Wawrinka beat Simone Bolelli in straight sets.
There were defeats though for 27th seed Lopez and 29th seed Juan Monaco. Jurgen Melzer defeated Spaniard Lopez, while Kei Nishikori of Japan beat Argentinian Monaco.