Mark Philippoussis made life tough for himself before scrambling from two sets down to win his first round match at the French Open.

American qualifier Alex Kim shocked a lacklustre Philippoussis before the Australian regained his confidence to power home 2-6 6-7 (7-1) 7-5 6-2 6-2.

Philippoussis, ranked No.52 in the world, was two points away from losing the match and leaving Roland Garros when he was serving at 5-4 down in the third set after giving up two service breaks.

He was down 0-30 and clawed back to 30-30 and deuce before holding serve and then immediately breaking the world No.172 to clinch the set and stay in the match.

With his confidence rising, he started to find his range and the power shots that were firing long and wide in the first three sets were starting to land in.

His sledgehammer approach had little subtlety and brought about a staggering 95 unforced errors which he could ill afford in the second round against 1998 champion Carlos Moya.

"I'd like to go out there and have it a lot easier easier than that," Philippoussis said.

"It does a lot for your confidence when you come from two sets to love down.

"I did it the hard way but I don't care how I did it as long as I come up with the win.

"I never thought I was going to lose, I was always pretty positive."

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