 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Serena Williams declared she was "not a cold-weather person" but her game still caught fire as she demolished Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2,6-0 to start the defence of her French Open title on Tuesday.
The American, who owns 21 grand slam singles titles, will next face either Brazilian Teliana Pereira or Czech Kristyna Pliskova.
Rybarikova hung on until 2-2 in the first set before Williams went into overdrive to win 10 games in a row.
She wrapped it up on her first match point when Rybarikova sent a crosscourt backhand into the net on a cold day at Roland Garros.
"I'm not a cold-weather person. It's been really tough," Williams told reporters after her match was played out in 13 degrees Celsius.
"Today it was warmer... a couple matches before (mine), but by the time I got out there, it was just really cold.
"I don't like playing in cold weather. But everything felt pretty good, so it was okay."
Williams delayed the start of her claycourt season as she skipped the Madrid Open because of illness, kicking it off earlier this month in Rome, where she won the title without dropping a set.
World number one Novak Djokovic, back on Philippe Chatrier court where a year ago in the final Stan Wawrinka snatched away the missing title in his grand slam collection, outclassed first-round opponent Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
The Serbian top seed now stands only six matches away from becoming the first man in almost 50 years to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.
Looking to achieve a feat that was last achieved by Rod Laver in 1969, the 11-times major champion appeared to be a in a hurry to escape the cold and dank confines of Philippe Chatrier Court.
In fact, facing an opponent who had not played a top tier match since last October, Djokovic's only blip was when he dropped serve in the eighth game of the opening set.
But having levelled for 4-4, the wheels came off for Lu and the 32-year-old only won two more games before Djokovic, who last lost in the first round of a grand slam was in 2006 in Australia, safely secured a second-round clash with Belgian Steve Darcis.
Rafael Nadal started his quest for a record-breaking 10th French Open title in merciless fashion, demolishing Australian Sam Groth 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in Paris, on Tuesday.
The fourth-seeded Spaniard, who will play either Argentine Facundo Bagnis or French qualifier Kenny de Schepper in the second round, played flawless tennis throughout, making only three unforced errors in a one-sided match.
Nadal, who turns 30 next week, has won two titles on clay this season, including the Monte Carlo Masters in April.
He ended his opponent's misery with a trademark crosscourt forehand winner on his second match point on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Angelique Kerber's first Grand Slam match since winning the Australian Open in January ended in despair after she was beaten 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 by Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the first round.
The German third seed struggled with a shoulder injury in the third set and went off court for treatment when trailing 3-0.
The break failed to revitalise her, however, and after saving two match points, Kerber surrendered her title hopes with an ill-judged dropshot that failed to clear the net.
World number 58 Bertens will next play either French wildcard Alize Lim or Italian Camila Giorgi.
Andy Murray survived a nervy fifth-set decider against Czech veteran Radek Stepanek to complete a 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 comeback win and scrape into the second round.
The second seed had been tormented by his 37-year-old opponent in the previous evening's gloom, being outplayed in the opening two sets before repairing some of the damage by the time bad light intervened with him leading 4-2 in the fourth set.
If he hoped things would be less complicated when the match resumed on Philippe Chatrier Court, he was sadly mistaken as a reinvigorated and inspired Stepanek came within two points of an unlikley upset.
Feeding off the crowd, Stepanek conjured numerous moments of magic, out-foxing Murray with crafty drop-shots and slices and throwing in some classic serve and volley to keep his 29-year-old opponent off balance.
But Murray has a few tricks up his sleeve too, not too mention his renowned fighting qualities and he never panicked, even when defeat looked a distinct possibility.
Stepanek, bidding to become the oldest man to win a match at Roland Garros since Jimmy Connors (38 years 280 days) in 1991, finally relented and Murray, not without a few more alarms, finished the two-day duel.
There was plenty of respect from Murray, though, as he warmly consoled the 128th-ranked Czech and applauded him off court.
Murray won 10 of the last 12 games on Monday to seize the momentum and after fending off a couple of break points in Tuesday's first game he levelled the contest.
But Stepanek, a former top-10 player, was in no mood to go away quietly and the fifth set was an engrossing battle of wits.
Twice Stepanek extricated himself from trouble on serve to stay ahead as the crowd roared their approval.
When he held to love to lead 5-4 he scented victory and the alarm bells were ringing in the Murray camp when he trailed 15-30 in the next game.
Even when Murray got his nose in front and served for the match the nerves were still jangling as he double-faulted on his first match point.
But he sealed victory when Stepanek netted an attempted drop-volley and, with a kind-looking draw, can now look forward to another deep run at a venue where he has reached the semis three times.
There were mixed fortunes for two former women's champions.
Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone, who lifted the Suzanne Lenglen Cup in 2010, was bundled out in the first round by Kristina Mladenovic but 14th seed Ana Ivanovic, champion in 2008, beat France's Oceane Dodin 6-0, 5-7, 6-2.
It was a shock-free day in the men's draw where dangerous Austrian dark horse Dominic Thiem, seeded 13, American John Isner (15) and Tomas Berdych (7) moved through.
