Spaniard Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start to beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet in full sets in the opener of the Tennis Masters Cup 2007 here in Shanghai yesterday.

Gasquet, only 15 days Nadal's junior and in his first Masters Cup appearance, totally overwhelmed Nadal in the first set but failed to keep his consistency, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the blockbuster Gold Group clash after a little more than two hours.

World number two Nadal, who reached the semifinals last year in his first Tennis Masters Cup appearance, looked muscle-bound and hence under-performing in the opening set, dropping serve in the eighth game after some sloppy play, but came back quickly in the remaining time.

The two 21-year-olds, who have clashed three times before with the Spaniard winning all meetings, raised up respective game later, producing some impressive tennis to amuse the full-packed Qi ZhongTennis Stadium located in southern Shanghai.

In a roller coaster second set, Nadal broke, was broken but then broke again in successive games before clinching it 6-3, pumping his fists in celebration.

After that, Nadal seemed to have the whole match in control while Gasquet fell off the pace and he capitulated in the fifth game of the third set, hitting a forehand long on the second breakpoint to send Nadal 3-2 up and serving.

The bull-like youngster never looked back again en route to the happy ending.

The prestigious year-ending tournament is played in round robin format with 8 players/teams divided into two groups of four, with 8 seeds to be determined by the ATP 2007 Race and Stanford ATP Doubles Race standings on Nov. 5.

In singles' part, world number one Roger Federer from Switzerland is in Red Group with Russian Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick from the United States, and debutant Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.

The more competitive Gold Group boasts Nadal and three of the four players, namely No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, No. 6 David Ferrer of Spain and No. 8 Gasquet -- making their first career appearances at the elite tournament.

All matches shall be the best of three tie-break sets, except for the singles final, which shall be the best of five tie-break sets.