Rafael Nadal had never played five sets at Roland Garros… until Tuesday afternoon, when he ran into inspired American John Isner. The Spaniard’s 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4 come-from-behind victory over John Isner was uncharted terrority for Nadal, who lost his only previous match in Paris when trailing two sets to one in a fourth round defeat to Robin Soderling in 2009. Tuesday’s win sees Nadal improve to an 12-2 record in five set encounters at Grand Slam events [see chart below].

Year	Tournament	Round	Opponent	Result
2004	US Open	R128	Ivo Heuberger	W 6-0, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3
2005	Australian Open	R64	Mikhail Youzhny	W 6-1, 4-6, 4-6, 7-4, 6-3
2005	Australian Open	R16	Lleyton Hewitt	L 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-7(3), 2-6
2006	Wimbledon	R64	Robert Kendrick	W 6-7(4), 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5, 6-4
2007	Australian Open	R16	Andy Murray	W 6-7(3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
2007	Wimbledon	R32	Robin Soderling	W 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(7), 4-6, 7-5
2007	Wimbledon	R16	Mikhail Youzhny	W 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
2007	Wimbledon	F	Roger Federer	L 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2, 2-6
2008	Wimbledon	F	Roger Federer	W 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7
2009	Australian Open	SF	Fernando Verdasco	W 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4
2009	Australian Open	F	Roger Federer	W 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2
2010	Wimbledon	R64	Robin Haase	W 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3
2010	Wimbledon	R32	Philipp Petzschner	W 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3
2011	Roland Garros	R128	John Isner	W 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4

Coming into his third meeting with Isner, Nadal had dropped just 10 sets in his first 40 matches at Roland Garros, and boasted a 9-2 record in tie-breaks at the event. This was just the fourth time in 28 career majors that Nadal had lost a set in the first round; Isner became the first to win a set against the Spaniard in the opening round of Roland Garros. Nadal has never lost in the first round of a Grand Slam, notching his 28th consecutive win since making his major debut at Wimbledon in 2003.
With the loss, Isner falls to a 1-9 record against Top 5 opponents; his best win to date was a thrilling five-set, final tie-break win over fifth-ranked Andy Roddick in the third round of the 2009 US Open. He was looking to become the first American man since 2000 to register a Top 10 victory at Roland Garros; Jan-Michael Gambill upset No. 8 Nicolas Kiefer in the first round 11 years ago.

Stats:

	Nadal	Isner
Statistics on Serve
Aces	8	13
Double Faults	1	3
1st Serve %	72%	68%
1st Serve Points Won	79/97 (81%)	76/112 (68%)
2nd Serve Points Won	26/37 (70%)	31/53 (58%)
Break Points Saved	0/1 (0%)	10/15 (67%)
Statistics on Points
Total Service Points Won	105/134 (78%)	107/165 (65%)
Total Return Points Won	58/165 (35%)	29/134 (22%)
Break Points Won	5/15 (33%)	1/1 (100%)
Total Points Won	163/299 (55%)	136/299 (45%)
Other Stats
Winners	50	54
Unforced errors	27	58
Net Approaches	13/22 (59%)	43/66 (65%)

Source:ATP