Despite a losing start, Frenchman Richard Gasquet said yesterday that he enjoyed the atmosphere of the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

The 21-year-old youngster, in his first Masters Cup appearance, totally overwhelmed Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the first set but failed to keep his consistency, losing 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 in the blockbuster Gold Group clash after a little more than two hours.

"It's great for me. It's the Masters Cup. It is incredible for me because I qualified only last week in Paris," said Gasquet, who blasted 12 aces against only five from Nadal.

"I enjoyed the match for sure because I was playing against Rafael. He's a great player and I was playing in the Masters Cup.

"A lot of people in the crowd and they are nice with me. The court was perfect too."

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.

"I will try to win my first match because I lost one time. If I lose my next match the Masters is over for me, so I have to win over David or Novak. But it will be hard. They will be the favorite against me because I never won against them."

"But I'm confident, I played well today. It was very close with Rafael."