The top-seeded Spaniard, who was playing his first match since he won the Madrid Masters last October, shook off the rustiness from a three-month injury-forced absence as he rallied back from a set behind to beat the Belgian 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

With the match leveled at 1-1, Nadal struggled in the decider as both players alternated service breaks throughout the set, until the 19-year-old star finally clinched the victory on his first match point, to set up a second round match against French wild card Gilles Simon.

Meanwhile, third-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko advanced to the second round as he swept past Christophe Rochus 6-1, 6-2.

Davydenko next takes on 18-year-old Russian Evgeny Korolev, who made his debut on the ATP circuit by defeating French wildcard Alexandre Sidorenko in three sets.

Other Tuesday winners include Britain’s Greg Rusedski and Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny who posted respective wins over French qualifiers, Nicolas Thomann and Sebastien De Chaunac.