Djokovic, Nadal Start Solid; American Nightmare at French Open
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French Open favorites Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic led the charge on Day 2 at Roland Garros on Monday as the No. 2-seeded Serb beat Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, and the No. 4-seeded Spaniard rolled past France’s Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-4, 6-1.
ADHEREL
“It was a bit of a rusty start,” said Djokovic, who while winning in straights needed eight set points to close out the first with new coach Andre Agassi looking on. “At a set and 4-1 up, I just played a couple of sloppish games. And in the third set when I had him on the ropes, I played very bad games on my serve.”
Djokovic in his post-match conference was asked about Agassi at length, prompting him to ask whether he should bring his coach in to the press room next time.
“I’m really enjoying it so far,” Djokovic said of his coaching relationship with the former No. 1-ranked American. “For me it’s very different relationship than from any other that I have had really with anybody, consistently talking a lot about those things. I can see only positives to now. But it’s hard to say whether there is significant difference on the court, because it’s only a few days that we are together.”
Nadal is seeking to become the only player to win 10 titles at one Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era.
“For me, it’s important to serve a little bit better than what I did today,” Nadal said after advancing into the second round. “I feel that some moments I was not serving that well. The rest of the things I am happy with.”
Other Top 10-seeded players into the second round on Monday were No. 5 Milos Raonic who defeated Belgian Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; No. 7 Marin Cilic who dismissed Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; and No. 10 David Goffin who had little trouble with Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
“I was able to break relatively early in all three sets and just sort of go about my business throughout the whole match,” Raonic said. “So I’m happy with that, and it gives me a little more freedom to spend more time working on my game tomorrow and playing hopefully even better on Wednesday.”
It was a brutal day for U.S. tennis as Americans went 1-for-6 on the day. No. 25 seed Steve Johnson was the only U.S. winner when he squeaked-out a five-setter over Japan’s Yuichi Sugita, a match continued from the previous day.
No. 17-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut led the lower-seeded winners, as his draw opened up after a four-set win over Aussie John Millman. Other seeded victors were No. 22 Pablo Cuevas, No. 24 Richard Gasquet who defeated Belgian Arthur De Greef in four, No. 28 Fabio Fognini who defeated American Frances Tiafoe 6-0 in the fifth, and No. 30 David Ferrer who outlasted American Donald Young 13-11 in the fifth.
American and No. 14 seed Jack Sock was shocked in his opener by Jiri Vesely in straight sets, while other upsets were Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili dismissing No. 31 Gilles Simon in four, and Italy’s Stefano Napolitano coming from a set down to oust No. 32 Mischa Zverev.
Tuesday’s highlights at Roland Garros include (9) Alexander Zverev vs. Fernando “Hot Sauce” Verdasco (tied at one-set all to finish), (1) Andy Murray vs. Andrey Kuznetsov, (15) Gael Monfils vs. Dustin Brown, (18) Nick Kyrgios vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber, (29) Juan Martin del Potro vs. countryman Guido Pella, and Nicolas Almagro vs. Marcos Baghdatis.
TUESDAY FRENCH OPEN SCHEDULE
Philippe-Chatrier Court
11:00 AM
Johanna Konta (GBR) [7] vs. Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Andy Murray (GBR) [1] vs. Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [12] vs. Renzo Olivo (ARG)
Jana Cepelova (SVK) vs. Simona Halep (ROU) [3]
Suzanne-Lenglen Court
11:00 AM
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [5] vs. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)
Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [3] vs. Jozef Kovalik (SVK)
Nao Hibino (JPN) vs. Caroline Garcia (FRA) [28]
Dustin Brown (GER) vs. Gael Monfils (FRA) [15]
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