Rafa Nadal made a successful Olympic singles debut on Monday, the Spaniard albeit needing three sets to beat Italy's Potito Starace 6-2 3-6 6-2.

Rafa, broke twice to take the first set. However, a running forehand pass from Starace allowed his opponent to go 2-0 up in the second. He then squandered five break points, with Starace surviving three deuces at 4-2 before eventually levelling - and taking a set off Rafa for the first time in five meetings.

But the 27-year-old's inspired form deserted him in the deciding set, with Starace netting at 2-3 for the initial break and again on Rafa's first match point.

"I had a very good first set and I'm happy about that," said Rafa, who only played in the doubles event in Athens four years ago.

"Then I had a break against in the second set and I had a lot of opportunities to break back but I couldn't, so that was tough.

"He had more problems than me when he was serving so that gave me a lot of confidence. Finally I got the break and match."