Nadal, Thiem ease through; Medvedev out
TENNIS
PARIS: French Open champion Rafael Nadal and US Open champion Dominic Thiem both eased through to the second round at Roland Garros with straightforward victories yesterday.
Nadal, bidding for a recordequalling 20th major title, produced a comfortable 64, 64, 62 win over Belarusian Egor Gerasimov while Thiem bested Croatian Marin Cilic 64, 63, 63.
‘‘I am quite happy about how the match evolved,’’ Nadal said.
‘‘It was not easy to make breaks, but in some way I did things well and [I’m] happy for the victory.’’
For Thiem, it was the 25yearold Austrian’s first match since he won his maiden major title in a New York fivesetter against
Alexander Zverev two weeks ago.
‘‘I was on fire in New York for two weeks,’’ said Thiem.
‘‘I tried to relax but not lose all the tension, because obviously I want to do well here in Paris. I guess I found a good mixture, and I’m very happy with this first round today.’’
Russian Daniil Medvedev, seeded fourth, was upset by Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 64, 76 (73), 26, 61 as his firstround French Open curse continued.
It is the fourth straight year since 2017 in which world No 5 Medvedev has been eliminated in his opening match at Roland Garros.
A sixhour marathon match was eventually won by Italian qualifier Lorenzo Giustino, who eliminated Frenchman Corentin Moutet 06, 76 (97), 76 (73) 26, 1816, the final set lasting three hours.
At six hours and five minutes, the match was the secondlongest in French Open history.
Another French hope in eighth seed Gael Monfils was dumped out of the first round by Kazakh Alexander Bublik 64, 75, 36, 63.
In the women’s draw, Serena Williams began her bid for a recordequalling 24th grandslam title with a 76 (72), 60 win over fellow American Kristie Ahn, despite some tough moments.
Williams, who turned 39 at the start of the tournament, was 31 down in the first set, but recovered to win the tiebreak and then raced through six straight games to emerge victorious.
‘‘The biggest difference was just confidence,’’ Williams said.
‘‘I do think her level dropped a little bit in the beginning of the first set and I took advantage of that.’’
Ukrainian third seed Elina Svitolina is also through after she eliminated Varvara Gracheva of Russia 76 (72), 64 while Spain’s 2016 French Open winner Garbine Muguruza battled through a 75, 46, 86 victory to move into the next phase.
And Petra Kvitova, seeded seventh, advanced with a 63, 75 win against Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin under the roof of Court Philippe Chatrier.
Dutch fifth seed Kiki Bertens survived a scare in her tie with Ukrainian Katarina Zavatska as Bertens battled from a set down to prevail 26, 62, 60. — DPA