Tennis: Second seed Rafael Nadal began his bid for back-to-back Rome Masters titles when he edged out fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya 6-1 2-6 6-2.
Nineteen-year-old Nadal will equal Guillermo Vilas's 1977 record of 53 consecutive wins on clay if he successfully defends his title this week.
The French Open champion took advantage of an error-strewn start by Moya to race through the first set in just over half an hour.
Former world number one Moya hit back, finding the range on his groundstrokes to break Nadal in the third and fifth games of the second set and level the contest.
In the final set Moya cracked first, putting one forehand into the tramlines then blasting another over the baseline to drop serve in his first service game.
Nadal raised his game again, fending off two break points before whipping a pair of crosscourt winners past Moya to break for the last time in the final game of the match.
He now plays the winner of the later match between home favourite Filippo Volandri and Britain's Andy Murray.