Murray powers to victory over Kuznetsov, while Zverev has no answer to Verdasco

WITH intimations of his Roland Garros demise appearing greatly exaggerated, world No 1 Andy Murray played it straight by the French Open form book yesterday with a mostly regulation 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0 first-round win over Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.

After a confidence-sapping run-in to the tournament, Murray, pictured, came within one match of winning last year, the top seed would have been hoping for an easy introduction to settle the nerves.

For the most part, his 73rd-ranked opponent obliged, as the rich run of form that last week took Kuznetsov to the semifinal of the Geneva Open deserted him.

Paris’ main showcourt had already played host to upsets in the day’s first two matches, with Murray’s compatriot, seventh-seeded Johanna Konta, going down in three sets to Taiwan’s unseeded Hsieh Su-Wei in the women’s draw, and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco ousting German ninth seed Alexander Zverev in four.

For a while some may have sensed the possibility of a third shock as the Scot began tentatively, his tennis underpowered and his manner subdued.

Recovering from illness and injury, his love affair with clay has turned sour this year, with early-round losses this month to Borna Coric in Madrid and Fabio Fognini in Rome.

He was broken when serving for the first set at 5-4, but Kuznetsov handed the break right back in the next game. Murray then lost his bearings midway through the second set, dropping four games in a row to allow the Russian to square the match.

Bolstered by the returning presence in his box of Ivan Lendl, his coach in grand slams since 2012 and credited with adding an extra edge of aggression to his game, the Scot then moved through the gears, mixing drops shots with lobs and adding more depth to his groundstrokes.

He breezed through the third and fourth sets with the loss of just two games and ended the match full of smiles that hinted at his relief over a potentially tricky hurdle negotiated.

Earlier Zverev was all shook up after a dizzying 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-2 defeat by Verdasco. Because not since 1957, when Elvis Presley’s had a hit of that name, had an Italian Open champion been brought to his knees just days later in the first round at Roland Garros.

In fact, perhaps not since Nicolas Pietrangelli lost that French Open firstround match in 1957 to Australian Mal Anderson had such clay court momentum been halted. Zverev, though, knew the reason. “I played absolute sh*t,” he said. “It’s quite simple.

“You sometimes play bad. It’s just... this is our sport. There are no regrets. I mean, what can you do? In Rome I played fantastic, I won the tournament. Here I played bad, I lost first round. That’s the way it goes.”

But in truth the match may have been lost a day earlier, when it was halted due to poor light.

Three times champion Mats Wilander told Reuters that agreeing to stop had been a “rookie mistake” for the German.

“A ridiculous decision,” Wilander said. “He should’ve just pushed on and insisted on playing. Thousands of people in the stadium missed out, we all missed out. (Verdasco’s) experience won through.” – Reuters