Williams untroubled in first round in Paris
Federer races through after blitzing qualifier
PARIS: Serena Williams won her opening match at the French Open and made a career breakthrough by speaking French to the crowd for the first time.
‘‘I’m a beginner,’’ Williams said — referring to her French, not tennis.
Her play spoke volumes yesterday. Williams returned to the red clay that tripped her up in the first round a year ago, channelled any lingering frustration into her overpowering strokes and drubbed Anna Tatishvili 6-0, 6-1.
Former world No.1 Roger Federer also advanced in straight sets on a chilly first day in Paris.
Williams lost her opening match at a Grand Slam tournament for the only time in her career a year ago, when she was beaten by France’s Virginie Razzano. That was the most shocking in a succession of losses for Williams at Roland Garros, where she hasn’t won the title since 2002 and hasn’t reached the semifinals since 2003.
Determined to avoid another bad start, Williams won the first nine games, and 30 of the first 37 points. There was no let-up from there, and she was still pumping her fist and shouting ‘‘Come on!’’ a game from the finish.
Williams won 56 of 78 points, including 28 of 33 on her serve, and hit eight aces. She maintained a stern expression throughout the match, and allowed herself only a brief smile when Tatishvili pushed a forehand wide on match point.
Williams, who keeps an apartment in Paris, was then interviewed on centre court and spoke French with only a slight accent.
‘‘I think I am French because I have a flat here,’’ she said. ‘‘I love Paris.’’
She’ll face tougher competition in the rounds to come — Tatishvili fell to 2-11 this year and 0-3 at the French Open.
Later, Federer, the 2009 champion hunting an 18th major, saw off Spanish qualifier Pablo Carreno-Busta, the world No.166, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
The 21-year-old Spaniard had started the year No.654, an ascent boosted by winning seven Futures events and an astonishing record of 53 wins in 57 matches on the circuit’s third tier.
But Federer, playing in his 15th Roland Garros, was too strong, building the foundation for victory with a break in the opening game of all three sets.
‘‘I didn’t know a great deal about my opponent. He played really well and has a great future,’’ said the 31-year-old Federer after his 80-minute win — his 55th career victory at Roland Garros — which contained 33 winners and 10 aces.
Lleyton Hewitt, like Federer a former world No.1 but now down at No.85 in the world, put in a trademark gut-busting performance before losing a five-set thriller to French 15th seed Gilles Simon.
Hewitt had been 5-0 down in the decider and saved two match points to claw back to 5-5 but Simon had enough stamina to achieve a 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 win.
Hewitt, 32, first played Roland Garros in 1999 and was a quarter-finalist in 2001 and 2004, but had played and lost his only two previous matches on clay this year coming into Paris.
In other matches, Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 champion and 14th seed, clinched a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over Croatia’s Petra Martic and next faces either France’s Mathilde Johansson or Chanelle Scheepers for a place in the last 32.
‘‘The conditions were heavy and it was cold, but it wasn’t an issue. It was an up and down performance,’’ Ivanovic said.
Italian fifth seed Sara Errani, runnerup to Maria Sharapova last year, had the honour of being the first player to reach the second round, breezing past Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-2.
Errani needed just 54 minutes to get past world No.86 Rus, who made the fourth round in 2012 but has not won a match on the main tour this year.
The 26-year-old Errani will face highly rated Kazakh teenager Yulia Putintseva.
In other early matches yesterday, Canadian 14th seed Milos Raonic defeated Xavier Malisse of Belgium, 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, while Kevin Anderson, the 23rd-seeded South African, eased past Ukrainian lucky loser Illya Marchenko, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.