PARIS: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal sauntered to opening wins at the French Open on Tuesday but Andy Murray came perilously close to going home before joining them in the second round while Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber crashed out.

World number one Djokovic, back on Philippe Chatrier court where a year ago in the final Stan Wawrinka snatched away the missing title in his grand slam collection, outclassed first-round opponent Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 to book a second-round encounter with Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis.

Nadal found Australian Sam Groth even more compliant as the fourth-seeded Spaniard set off in search of his 10th title at Roland Garros with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory in little more than an hour.

However, second seed Murray was forced to recover from a two-set deficit to overcome 37-year-old Radek Stepanek 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 in a match lasting three hours 41 minutes in total.

Murray was leading 4-2 in the fourth set when play was suspended on Monday because of darkness. He was twice two points from losing while serving and trailing 5-4 in the fifth. But he held there, then broke Stepanek, and served out after wasting his first match point with a double-fault.

“It’s unbelievable what he is doing,” Murray, who set up a second-round encounter with 164th-ranked French wildcard Mathias Bourgue, said. “At 37 years old, coming out and fighting like that. I don’t expect to be doing that myself at that age.”

Murray, who will be 37 in eight years, progressed with Aljaz Bedene and Kyle Edmund to ensure three British men in the second round at Roland Garros for the first time since 1975.

Also advancing were seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych, Dominic Thiem (13), John Isner (15) and Bernard Tomic (20).

Berdych, a former French Open semi-finalist, cruised to a straight-sets win over Canada’s Vasek Pospisil.

Thiem struggled initially against Inigo Cervantes, dropping the opening set to the Spaniard, but the Austrian rallied to claim a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 victory.

Isner fired 40 aces to advance 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (14-12), 7-6 (9-7), 7-5 over Australian John Millman, while Tomic put recent struggles behind him to dispatch American Brian Baker in three sets.

However, Kerber became the tournament’s first major casualty as Dutchwoman Bertens consigned the German third seed to a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 defeat.

Kerber received treatment on her shoulder during a changeover while trailing 3-0 in the deciding set. The left-handed Kerber briefly left the court and returned to win her service game but could not break again and lost.

Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, was also eliminated, losing to Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-4 but 14th seed Ana Ivanovic, champion in 2008, beat France’s Oceane Dodin 6-0, 5-7, 6-2.

Jelena Jankovic also made an early exit, the Serbian 23rd seed dumped out by Tatjana Maria as the German won for the first time in Paris.

Swiss eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky swept past Spanish lucky loser Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-3, 6-1, while 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro needed three sets to beat Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova.

Seven-time major winner Venus Williams edged out Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), while former runner-up Sam Stosur overcame Misaki Doi of Japan 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

In a late upset on Monday, former US Open champion Marin Cilic, seeded 10th, went down to Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles (first round): Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt 24-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; Pablo Carreno (Spain) bt 31-Federico Delbonis (Argentina) 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4; 14-Roberto Bautista (Spain) bt Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1; Nicolas Mahut (France) bt Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-1; 26-Joao Sousa (Portugal) bt Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 2-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 7-5; Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) bt Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) 7-5, 6-4, 6-1; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) bt Thiemo de Bakker (Netherlands) 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3); 25-Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) bt Tobias Kamke (Germany) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 6-4, 6-1, 6-1; Facundo Bagnis (Argentina) bt Kenny De Schepper (France) 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2); 21-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt Thomas Fabbiano (Italy) 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; 13-Dominic Thiem (Austria) bt Inigo Cervantes (Spain) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1; Quentin Halys (France) bt Chung Hyeon (South Korea) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; 15-John Isner (US) bt John Millman (Australia) 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (14-12), 7-6 (9-7), 7-5; Steve Darcis (Belgium) bt Marsel Ilhan (Turkey) 6-3, 6-4, 6-0; 2-Andy Murray (Britain) bt Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5; 4-Rafa Nadal (Spain) bt Samuel Groth (Australia) 6-1, 6-1, 6-1; 29-Lucas Pouille (France) bt Julien Benneteau (France) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Victor Estrella (Dominican Republic) bt Illya Marchenko (Ukraine) 7-5, 6-4, 6-3; Aljaz Bedene (Britain) bt Gerald Melzer (Austria) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) bt Florian Mayer (Germany) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Borna Coric (Croatia) bt Taylor Fritz (US) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; 20-Bernard Tomic (Australia) bt Brian Baker (US) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Vasek Pospisil (Canada) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

Women’s singles (first round): Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) bt Sachia Vickery (US) 6-2, 6-2; Virginie Razzano (France) bt Ipek Soylu (Turkey) 4-6, 6-1, 6-0; 9-Venus Williams (US) bt Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4); 14-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt Oceane Dodin (France) 6-0, 5-7, 6-2; 15-Madison Keys (US) bt Donna Vekic (Croatia) 6-3, 6-2; 29-Darya Kasatkina (Russia) bt Anna-Lena Friedsam (Germany) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3; Louisa Chirico (US) bt Lauren Davis (US) 6-2, 2-6, 8-6; Camila Giorgi (Italy) bt Alize Lim (France) 6-3, 6-2; 27-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) bt Varvara Lepchenko (US) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; 8-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) bt Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-3, 6-1; Tatjana Maria (Germany) bt 23-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; 21-Samantha Stosur (Australia) bt Misaki Doi (Japan) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Zhang Shuai (China) bt Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) 7-5, 6-2; 12-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) bt Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) bt 3-Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; 22-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Zheng Saisai (China) 6-3, 6-1; 26-Kristina Mladenovic (France) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-2, 6-4; Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) bt Laura Siegemund (Germany) 6-2, 6-2; Ana Konjuh (Croatia) bt Arina Rodionova (Australia) 6-2, 6-3; Timea Babos (Hungary) bt Samantha Crawford (US) 6-4, 6-0; Alize Cornet (France) bt Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) 6-1, 6-0; Wang Qiang (China) bt Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (France) 6-0, 6-0.

Monday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles (first round): Kyle Edmund (Britain) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 6-1; Bjorn Fratangelo (US) bt Sam Querrey (US) 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3; Albert Ramos (Spain) bt Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-0; Andrej Martin (Slovakia) bt Daniel Munoz (Spain) 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Mathias Bourgue (France) bt Jordi Samper (Spain) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6); Marco Trungelliti (Argentina) bt 10-Marin Cilic (Croatia) 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; 9-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s singles (first round): 25-Irina Begu (Romania) bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3; CoCo Vandeweghe (US) bt Naomi Broady (Britain) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) bt Carina Witthoeft (Germany) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Johanna Larsson (Sweden) bt Magda Linette (Poland) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2016