Rafael Nadal launched his pursuit of a record 10th French Open title in convincing fashion, while defending champions Novak Djokovic and Garbine Muguruza eased to victory in the first round. The big seeds to fall were Jack Sock and Gilles Simon, while veterans David Ferrer and Caroline Wozniacki were stretched but overcame their opponents in gruelling matches.
The big news
Djokovic, Agassi off to winning start
Defending champion Novak Djokovic began his title defence with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain’s Marcel Granollers, under the watchful eye of new coach Andre Agassi. Incidentally, his former coach Boris Becker was also around, to watch the match and even greeted the Serb’s team. We wonder what that conversation was about? The world No 2 will face Portugal’s Joao Sousa next.
Rafael Nadal powers into round 2
The nine-time French Open champion put up a dominant show to thrash Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-4, 6-1. Nadal had to overcome a bit of stutter in the second set when Paire broke him twice and was leading three games to one. But the Spaniard then brought his A-game to brush aside the Frenchman in less than two hours with two breadsticks. Nadal faces Dutchman Robin Haase next.
Muguruza downs 2010 winner Schiavone
In a clash of Roland Garros champions, Garbine Muguruza began her title defence with a commanding 6-2, 6-4 win over former champion Francesca Schiavone. Muguruza’s middling form this season saw her arrive in Paris with just three wins on clay, but the Spaniard dispatched the 36-year-old with ease. The fourth seed will meet Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit next.
Shot of the day
This stunning return by Marcel Granollers that shot between the net and the chair umpire and even had Novak Djokovic applauding.
Quotable Quotes
“I’ll stick with my answers about tennis and sport. Politics is something that is not my big interest at the moment. I do follow it, of course, because it is part of my life, part of everyone’s lives. So I’m aware of what’s happening. But more than that, I can’t say.”
– Novak Djokovic prefers not to get involved in a political discussion over whether or not Serbia should join the European Union.
“I will catch up because I will have a credit with God and, hopefully, God will forgive me.”
– Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur admitting that she can’t observe the Muslim holy month of Ramadan while at Roland Garros but will respect the ritual once her tournament is over.
“I hate tennis sometimes. Is a big relation. Is a love that you have to love and then you hate sometimes. It’s like when you marry someone.”
– 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone on her two-decade on-off love affair with tennis.
“Should tennis be more TV friendly? Yes. Do I believe those are the solutions? No.”
– Milos Raonic is not convinced by plans to shorten sets and install a shot clock at the season-ending #NextGen event.
From the sidelines
Remember Ernests Gulbis? He had famously reached the French Open semi-finals 2014 beating Roger Federer on the way. However, the Latvian arrived at Roland Garros ranked 230 in the world and not having won a main draw match since reaching the fourth round in 2016. On Monday, he lost in straight sets to Marin Cilic, a defeat which will see him drop out of the top 500, going down by 308 points in a week!
Number crunching
4 hours 29 minutes – That’s how long the marathon match between 35-year-old David Ferrer, playing Roland Garros for the 15th time, and Donald Young, 27, was. The final scoreline saw Ferrer win 5-7, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 13-11.
337 – The world ranking of 17-year-old Australian Jaimee Fourlis who went down in three sets to former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki on her Roland Garros debut.
9-7 – The deciding set score in the gruelling, three-hour match between Kristina Mladenovic and Jennifer Brady that the Frenchwoman won 3-6, 6-3, 9-7.
12 – The number of successive points won by defending champion Garbine Muguruza to close out the first set against former winner Francesca Schiavone.
With inputs from AFP
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