Playing on the court that’s become synonymous with his legendary tennis career, Rafael Nadal scored a hard-fought, three-set victory in his first-round singles match at the Paris Olympics, navigating Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, inside Roland Garros’ Court Philippe Chatrier.

Nadal flashed some of the form reminiscent of his 14 French Open titles, breezing past Fucsovics in a 31-minute opening set. The Hungarian raised his level to take the second set, but could not hold off the “King of Clay” in the third frame as Nadal surged to victory in a match many doubted he’d opt to play.

After winning his doubles opener alongside Carlos Alcaraz just 16 hours prior, Nadal criticized the congested scheduling of the Olympic tennis tournament, calling it “outrageous” and saying he’d have to talk with his team about potentially withdrawing from singles.

The Spaniard won despite a heavily-taped right thigh which he injured in training prior to the Paris Games.

Nadal’s prize for powering through? A blockbuster matchup against fellow Big Three rival Novak Djokovic in the second round.

It will be just the second time the two all-time leaders in men’s Grand Slam singles titles match up in Olympic competition. The Spaniard defeated Serbia’s Djokovic in three sets in the semifinals of the 2008 Beijing Games, where Nadal went on to win gold. The pair have also met on 10 occasions on the Roland Garros red clay, where Nadal leads 8-2.

Djokovic defeated Australia’s Matt Ebden in straight sets on Saturday.

“Of course, it's beautiful to play against one of the two biggest rivals that I had in my career, especially on this court,” Nadal said of the imminent Round 2 clash. “But situations are completely different for (Djokovic), for me. He's been very competitive. I was not being very competitive for the last two years, so in that case, I think probably he is the clear favorite. I'm going to try my best to bring the best to the court and then let's see how far I can go and how many problems I can create (for) him.”