By Nick Powell
Champion Stanislas Wawrinka survived a brutal onslaught from Lukas Rosol but his rival Andy Murray went into the end of the day behind against veteran Radek Stepanek after a thrilling opening Monday at Rolland Garros.
Wawrinka did enough to see off aggressive hitting from Czech Rosol after going two sets to one down. A strong spell that carried through from the end of the fourth to the start of the fifth allowed him to equalise and subsequently lead before closing out in the opening game on the Phillipe Chatrier Court.
His 37 year old compatriot stunned Murray in the opening two sets, bursting into a 2-0 lead. The Scot lost his serve in third game of the first set and was broken again in the ninth as Stepanek, the oldest player in the draw, showed his experience was important as he took control.
The second seed broke to love to start the second set but then immediately lost his own serve and Stepanek, ranked 127 in the world, broke again at 4-3 to carve out a two-set lead.
Murray raced through the third set and broke to lead the fourth as the light ended the days play but will still require a strong performance against a refreshed Stepanek tomorrow to avoid a first 1st round exit in ten years.
Other matches saw Kei Nishikori reach the second round with an excellent win over Simone Bolelli and Britons Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson went through, with Naomi Broady losing
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