Federer makes winning French Open return as Swiatek advances

Roger Federer kicked off only his second French Open campaign in six years with an impressive dismissal of Denis Istomin on Monday, while reigning women’s champion Iga Swiatek and men’s second seed Daniil Medvedev both reached round two.

Federer marked his return to the Grand Slam arena in dazzling fashion with a 6-2 6-4 6-3 first-round defeat of qualifier Istomin.

The Swiss went through his usual repertoire of shot-making, including a string of early drop shots, and was playing in cruise control throughout the one-sided contest.

He was applauded warmly by the small Philippe Chatrier crowd who thoroughly enjoyed his 93 minute exhibition.

Federer, tied with Rafa Nadal on 20 Grand Slam titles, missed last year’s French Open because of a knee injury and is appearing at Roland Garros for only the second time since 2015.

World No.2 Daniil Medvedev of Russia recorded his first win at Roland Garros on his fifth attempt as he swept aside Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.

Medvedev, 25, entered with a 1-3 record this year on clay. However, he comfortably overcame world No. 37 Bublik to set up a second-round clash against American Tommy Paul, who beat Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 10-8.

In other first-round matches, 19th seed Jannik Sinner of Italy got the better of Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-1, 4-6, 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4.

Sinner looked to be heading for an early exit in Paris, but he recovered his game late in the fourth set to win five straight games en route to a comeback victory over three hours and 33 minutes.

American John Isner, ranked 34th, defeated compatriot Sam Querrey 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4, while 16th seed Casper Ruud of Norway was stretched to four sets by Benoit Paire of France before winning 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(4).

Swiatek launches title defence: Iga Swiatek started her French Open title defence with a straight-sets win over her good friend Kaja Juvan in the first round on her 20th birthday.

The Pole, who powered to a surprise triumph last year at Roland Garros, won 6-0, 7-5 against her Slovenian opponent.

Swiatek will face Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, who defeated American Shelby Rogers 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (10/8), 6-2.

The first set was the eighth seed’s third straight bagel after thumping Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the Italian Open final earlier this month, which saw her break into the world’s top 10.

Juvan put up much more of a fight in the second set, though, battling back from 3-1 down before missing two break points in the 11th game.

But her resistance ended shortly afterwards, as Swiatek came back from 40-0 down in the next game and secured victory on her fourth match point in the sunshine on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Tamara shocks Bianca: World No.85 Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia accounted for the first top-10 seed of this French Open when she ousted No. 6 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada, 6-7(1), 7-6(6), 9-7.

No.4 seed 2020 runner-up, Sofia Kenin of the US, avoided becoming the second top-10 seed to fall when she overcame 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Two seeded players in the draw, No. 20 Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic and No.16 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, emerged from three-set tussles with different outcomes.

Marketa, the 2019 runner-up, got the better of upset artist Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. She will next face wildcard Harmony Tan of France. Harmony triumphed in an all-French affair, overcoming Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-4.

However, 16th ranked Kiki failed to get past the Polona Hercog hurdle, losing 1-6, 6-3, 4-6 to the 30-year-old Slovenian ranked 73rd in the world.

Osaka withdraws: Japan’s Naomi Osaka announced on Monday she was withdrawing from the French Open in the wake of her decision to boycott post-match media duties at the Grand Slam tournament. The 23-year-old made the announcement on Twitter.

“I think now the best thing for the tournament, other players and my wellbeing is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focussing on the tennis.” (Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Agencies