Staff Reporter.
Roger Federer eased through his French Open return with a straight-set win over Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion had not played at Roland Garros since 2019 and was playing his first match at a major in 16 months after a knee injury.
The 39-year-old Swiss played smoothly and confidently as he won 6-2 6-4 6-3.
Meanwhile, Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev ended his misery at Roland Garros as he beat Alexander Bublik for his first win on the Paris clay.
Medvedev, 25, won 6-3 6-3 7-5 against Kazakhstan’s Bublik, ending a run of four successive defeats in round one.
Federer was the star attraction in the men’s singles on the second day of the clay-court Grand Slam, though, reintroducing himself to the top level after missing the past three majors.
The Swiss, who turns 40 in August, was playing in a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2020 Australian Open semi-finals, having needed two knee operations during the pandemic.
He returned to the match court at Doha in March, beating British number one Dan Evans in his comeback match before losing to Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili a day later.
However, he did not play again until the Geneva Open last month, losing to Spain’s Pablo Andujar in his one and only clay-court match in the past two years.
Expectations of a deep run at Roland Garros have been dampened by Federer, who said he is focusing on building up his form and fitness to peak at next month’s Wimbledon.
Yet he looked in majestic form in the first match of what is only his second appearance on the Paris clay since 2015.
Federer wrapped up the first set in 23 minutes, going on to secure victory in one hour and 33 minutes without facing a break point.
As well as converting five of his 13 break points, the Swiss hit 48 winners and won 80% of first-serve points in an impressive all-round performance.
Medvedev, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, broke out into a relieved grin after serving out for victory in under two hours.
“I felt I was not playing well in the past here, but this time I feel comfortable,” the Russian said.
“I am running well and moving well. I want to keep playing at this level.”
Medevdev has rarely concealed his dislike for the red dirt, having earned just 11 of his 179 career wins on the surface going into Roland Garros.
He had earned only one clay-court victory – against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Madrid – this year.
Despite calling it the “worst surface ever” at the recent Italian Open, Medvedev said in his pre-Grand Slam news conference that practice in Paris had been “amazing” and that the conditions helped him play like he does on hard courts.
That showed in a dominant performance against Bublik, where the hotter and faster conditions seemed to suit his game.
Medvedev is seeded second at Roland Garros – one above 13-time champion Rafael Nadal – because the seedings are based on world rankings, meaning the Russian finds himself in the opposite side of the men’s draw to Nadal, top seed Novak Djokovic and Federer.
There are no Grand Slam champions in his half following US Open winner Dominic Thiem’s defeat on Sunday.
Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and German sixth seed Alexander Zverev – who are both strongly tipped to go far – remain in there after winning their opening matches.
Meanwhile South Africa’s Lloyd Harris continues to punch above his weight on the world circuit, and on Monday, he claimed the scalp of Lorenzo Sonego with a 7-5 6-4 6-4 upset win in a first-round French Open clash at Roland Garros in Paris.
The unseeded South African Harris is 54 on the latest world rankings, but he made light work of Italy’s 26th seeded Lorenzo Sonego, the world No 28, with a straight-sets win in just over two hours.
Sonego has been in excellent form over the last while, and last week he threatened briefly in a match on clay against world No 1 Novak Djokovic by claiming a set.
Harris’ opponents will regard him as a danger after his giant-killing acts against world No 4 Dominic Thiem and world No 12 Denis Shapovalov earlier this year.
The unseeded Brit Cam Norrie is next in the firing line. Norrie, the world No 45, on Monday defeated American qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo 7-5 7-6 6-2 and will meet Harris on Wednesday. The winner of this match will play Rafael Nadal, who has won the French Open nine times.
In his match against Sonego, Harris dropped serve early in the first set but fought back well with a break in the next game. At 5-all, Harris broke again and then held serve for a 7-5 first-set win after 46 minutes.
Harris’ lethal weapon, his much-vaunted serve, did not prove much of a problem for Sonego, who sent down three aces against one from the South African in the first set.
In the next two sets, Harris claimed a break of serve in each set before closing out a comfortable 7-5 6-4 6-4 win.