Nadal takes out Paire in first round
Launches quest for 10th title in style after brushing aside Frenchman in less than two hours
PARIS: 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 number 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,” said the 14-time major champion.
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.
DJOKOVIC STARTS AGASSI ERA WITH WIN
Defending champion Novak Djokovic enjoyed a winning French Open start under new coach Andre Agassi on Monday, cruising past Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion parted company with his entire coaching team earlier this month to work with Agassi 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 Spaniard around the court.
With Agassi, sporting a black t-shirt and sunglasses, quietly sitting in the stands along with the Serb’s entourage, it was a similar story early in the second set with the world number two returning everything Granollers tried to throw at him.
He again 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 Spaniard’s accumulating mistakes in the third set to seal victory on his first match point.
With Agassi making a fast exit from the stands at the conclusion of the match, Djokovic heaped praise on his new coach.
“It is an incredible honour and good luck to have him with me on the team,” Djokovic said. “Every day is special with him. I am learning something every day.”
“I changed everyone (coaches). But I will not change my wife. My wife never.”
JOHNSON REMEMBERS FATHER IN TRIUMPH
America’s Steve Johnson wept as he paid tribute to his late father on Sunday, describing his French Open first-round victory as “one the hardest matches I’ve played”.
Steve Johnson senior, a widely-respected coach of more than 30 years in California, passed away suddenly earlier in May. He was just 58.
His son admitted he had suffered a rollercoaster of emotions as he came back on Monday to defeat Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in a five-set match held over from Sunday night.
“Just a lot of the emotions. You know, my dad he was such a big part of my tennis life, just an emotional time. Yeah, it’s not about tennis right now,” said the American 25th seed.
It is an incredible honour and good luck to have him with me on the team. Every day is special with him. I am learning something every day. NOVAK DJOKOVIC, After his first round win
You know, my dad he was such a big part of my tennis life, just an emotional time. Yeah, it’s not about tennis right now. STEVE JOHNSON, Remembering his father, who had died earlier in May, after a hard-fought victory