Rafael Nadal launched his quest for a record 10th French Open title with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 win over Frenchman Benoit Paire on Monday.
Nadal, who was forced to withdraw before last year’s third round with a wrist injury, broke Paire eight times to brush aside the world No 45 in less than two hours.
“I’m very happy to be back here after what happened last year. It’s great to feel the support,” the 14-time major champion said.
Nadal dominated the opening set, then recovered from a slight second-set wobble when he dropped serve twice in a row to surge into a round two meeting with Dutchman Robin Haase.
The Spaniard, whose last grand slam triumph came at Roland Garros in 2014, improved his incredible French Open record to 73 wins and just two losses.
Nadal lost this year’s Australian Open final in a five-set epic to Roger Federer, but the 30-year-old has marked himself out as the favourite on his preferred surface.
The fourth seed arrives in Paris with three clay-court titles to his name this season – winning both Monte Carlo and Barcelona for a 10th time, while securing a fifth Madrid Masters crown.
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■ World No 1 Angelique Kerber crashes out
■ Five players who could spring a surprise
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Defending champion Novak Djokovic enjoyed a winning French Open start under new coach Andre Agassi, cruising past Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.
The 12-times grand slam champion parted company with his entire coaching team earlier this month before inviting American great Agassi to work with him during the French Open.
The 30-year-old Serbian, without a tour title since January, found little resistance from Granollers, grabbing two breaks early on in the first set as he chased the 77th-ranked around the court.
It was a similar story early in the second set with the world No 2 returning everything Granollers tried to throw at him as he went 4-1 up before a wobble saw him fail to convert eight set points at 5-3.
Djokovic kept his cool to earn the second set and pounced on the Spaniards’ accumulating mistakes in the third set to seal victory on his first match point.
“It is an incredible honour and good luck to have him [Agassi] with me on the team,” Djokovic said. “Every day is special with him. I am learning something every day.”
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Returning to the stage of her greatest triumph inspired defending champion Garbine Muguruza to down 2010 winner Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-4 in the first round on Monday.
The fourth seed, who had been woefully out of form in the run-up to Roland Garros, never looked in danger of joining Russian Anastasia Myskina as the only reigning women’s champion to lose in the opening round of the clay-court major.
The Spaniard easily outclassed the skilful Italian with her poise and power in muggy conditions.
There were several top-notch rallies and Schiavone pulled a few tricks from her bag, threatening in the second set. However, she made too many unforced errors to sustain any form of challenge.
“I was so excited to play here against another champion. Francesca is a legend,” Muguruza said.
“I played my game, which means being aggressive and going forward.”
Muguruza raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set and just when Schiavone was starting to work around her opponent’s power as she reduced the arrears to 3-2, the match was interrupted for 10 minutes as a spectator was attended to by first-aiders.
The Spaniard won 19 of 20 points after play resumed and led 2-0 in the second set.
That is when Schiavone’s game fell into place. She broke back and had two break chances in the sixth game, which Muguruza saw off confidently.
The champion then broke decisively for 5-4. Schiavone saved three match points but volleyed wide on the fourth.
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Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark survived a second-set scare to beat Australian wild card Jaimee Fourlis and reach the second round.
The 17-year-old Fourlis, who is ranked 337th in the world and was appearing in only her second grand slam, lost the first set but raced into a 4-1 lead in the second against the 11th-seeded Wozniacki.
Fourlis managed to save two of three match points on her serve before Wozniacki triumphed 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
Despite the defeat, Fourlis walked off to a standing ovation.
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Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova reached the French Open second round on Monday with a 7-5, 6-2 win overn China’s Zheng Saisai.
Pliskova will bid to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the first time when she faces Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.
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Fifth-seeded Milos Raonic is safely through to the second round after sweeping past Steve Darcis of Belgium in straight sets.
Raonic took just 92 minutes to beat the 38th-ranked Darcis 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 – taking the final game to love.
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Steve Johnson of the United States held off a valiant comeback from Yuichi Sugita to reach the second round when their match resumed at Roland Garros.
The 25th-seeded Johnson won 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3.
Sugita had rallied from two sets down when play was suspended on Monday because of darkness, with the Japanese player leading 4-2 in the fourth set.
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Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands recovered from a set down to beat Australian Ajla Tomljanovic and reach the second round.
The 18th-seeded Bertens hit 11 aces as she won 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, with the last two sets taking just 50 minutes in total.
Tomljanovic saved two match points on her serve to take the game to deuce but Bertens sealed the match when her opponent hit a forehand long.
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Jack Sock has fallen at the first hurdle against a player he beat two weeks ago in Rome.
The 14th-seeded American recorded his worse result ever at the clay-court Grand Slam, losing 7-5, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round to Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
Sock, who made it to the fourth round in Paris two years ago and had always advanced at least to the second round in four previous appearances, hit 39 unforced errors and dropped serve six times.
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After being denied a wildcard into his last French Open, Paul-Henri Mathieu pushed his body through three-rounds of qualifying but on Monday he could do no more and bowed out after a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 first-round loss to David Goffin.
The French veteran, who won the junior title at Roland Garros in 2000, pushed Rafa Nadal to the limit on the Parisian clay in 2006 and also won the second longest French Open singles match against John Isner in 2012.
French federation president Bernard Giudicelli, however, felt Mathieu’s past heroics did not merit a wildcard entry into the 2017 main draw.
Mathieu, who reached a career-high ranking of 12th in 2008, felt further aggrieved when he saw he had been scheduled to play on Court 1 rather than on the main Philippe Chatrier or Suzanne Lenglen showcourts.
“It was tough physically this morning. I was aching everywhere when I woke up. There was no miracle possible,” said the 35-year-old Mathieu, who recently suffered a hip injury.
“I’m disappointed to finish like this. I lived incredible moments here.”
* Agencies
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