PARIS: Rafael Nadal racked up his 80th French Open win, while Maria Sharapova battled back from a final set deficit to reach the second round as Serena Williams made a winning Roland Garros return on Tuesday.

Nadal, the 10-time champion, defeated Italian lucky loser Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (11/9).

World number one Nadal had been two sets up but 0-3 down in the third when rain caused the tie to be suspended late Monday.

He quickly levelled at 3-3 on Tuesday, saved 4 break points in the eighth game before saving 4 set points in the breaker.

The top seed eventually claimed victory on a third match point when Bolelli dumped a forehand into the net.

Nadal, bidding for an 11th title in Paris and his 17th major, next faces Argentina’s Guido Pella for a place in the last 32.

“I really suffered today but it was a good test,” said Nadal who had been in danger of dropping his first set at Roland Garros since his 2015 quarter-final loss to Novak Djokovic.

“Simone is a very good player and he had lots of chances and was very agrressive.”

Two-time French Open champion Sharapova of Russia was pushed to three sets in her return to the Paris Grand Slam following a two-year absence.

Sharapova was given a tough challenge by Dutch qualifier Richel Hogenkamp but eventually prevailed 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

It was Sharapova’s first win at the French Open since 2015 after she served a drug ban in 2016 and was not granted a wild card last year.

Sharapova led 6-1, 4-3 but lost the next six games as Hogenkamp led 3-0 in the decider. Sharapova managed to turn things around and Hogenkamp angrily tossed her racket at the red clay after Sharapova resisted pressure on her serve in the sixth game, saving two break points.

The Russian, who was Paris champion in 2012 and 2014, fired 35 winners in her victory on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Serena made a winning return to Grand Slam tennis which was as memorable as her body-hugging black catsuit.

The 36-year-old downed Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to register her first victory at the majors since her 2017 Australian Open triumph.

She will face Australia’s Ashleigh Barty in the next round.

Serena returned to Grand Slam tennis for the first time since the 2017 Australian Open where she won a 23rd major while also being two months pregnant.

World number seven Caroline Garcia produced a stellar display to beat China’s Duan Yingying 6-1, 6-0 in 58 minutes. Garcia became the fourth Frenchwoman into this year’s Roland Garros second round.

Third-seeded Marin Cilic kicked off his campaign with a straight-set win over James Duckworth of Australia.

Cilic, a former US Open champion who reached two of the past three Grand Slam finals, was not bothered by the rain that stopped play for about an hour and won 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

First round: 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Simone Bolelli (Italy) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9); Guido Pella (Argentina) bt Joao Sousa (Portugal) 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; 24-Denis Shapovalov (Canada) bt John Millman (Australia) 7-5, 6-4, 6-2; Maximilian Marterer (Germany) bt Ryan Harrison (US) 6-1, 6-3, 7-5; Ruben Bemelmans (Belgium) bt Yuki Bhambri (India) 6-4, 6-4, 6-1; Thomas Fabbiano (Italy) bt Matthew Ebden (Australia) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2; Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slovenia) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; 6-Kevin Anderson (South Africa) bt Paolo Lorenzi (Italy) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4; 3-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt James Duckworth (Australia) 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4); Hubert Hurkacz (Poland) bt Tennys Sandgren (US) 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Russia) 6-1, 6-3, 6-0; Steve Johnson (US) bt 25-Adrian Mannarino (France) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-2; 18-Fabio Fognini (Italy) bt Pablo Andujar (Spain) 6-4, 6-2, 6-1; Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) bt Vasek Pospisil (Canada) 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); 16-Kyle Edmund (Great Britain) bt Alex De Minaur (Australia) 6-2, 6-4, 6-3; 9-John Isner (US) bt Noah Rubin (US) 6-3, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (9-7); Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) bt Yuichi Sugita (Japan) 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2.

Women’s singles:

First round: Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) bt Johanna Larsson (Sweden) 6-4, 6-3; 24-Daria Gavrilova (Australia) bt Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; 16-Elise Mertens (Belgium) bt Varvara Lepchenko (US) 6-7 (9-11), 7-6 (7-4), 6-0; Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus) bt Denisa Allertova (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-3; 18-Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) bt Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) 6-2, 6-1; 27-Zhang Shuai (China) bt Kristina Kucova (Slovakia) 6-0, 7-5; Irina Camelia Begu (Romania) bt Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) 6-4, 5-7, 9-7; 3-Garbine Muguruza (Spain) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 7-6 (7-0), 6-2; Fiona Ferro (France) bt Carina Witthoeft (Germany) 6-4, 6-2; Samantha Stosur (Australia) bt Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 6-2, 6-4; 30-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) bt Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); Alison Van Uytvanck (Belgium) bt Isabelle Wallace (Australia) 6-1, 6-0; Serena Williams (US) bt Kristyna Pliskova (Czech Republic) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; 17-Ashleigh Barty (Australia) bt Natalia Vikhlyantseva (Russia) 6-3, 6-1; 28-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Richel Hogenkamp (Netherlands) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Monday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

First round: 13-Roberto Bautista-Agut (Spain) bt Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) 6-2, 6-6 (3-7), 1-6, 6-4, 6-4); Jaume Munar (Spain) bt David Ferrer (Spain) 3-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5; Borna Coric (Croatia) bt Philippe Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 7-Dominic Thiem (Austria) bt Ilya Ivashka (Belarus) 6-2, 6-4, 6-1; Adam Pavlasek (Czech Republic0 bt Mirza Basic (Bosnia Herzegovina) 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 2-6, 2-6; Casper Ruud (Norway) bt Jordan Thompson (Australia) 6-1, 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 6-3; Gilles Simon (France) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) 6-4, 6-0, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4); Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spain) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan) 7-6 (7-0), 6-4, 6-1; 12-Sam Querrey (US) bt Frances Tiafoe (US) 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6); Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2; 11-Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) bt Calvin Hemery (France) 6-1, 6-3, 6-1; 27-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-0, 6-2, 6-2.

Women’s singles: First round: Mariana Duque-Marino (Colombia) bt Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; Alexandra Dulgheru (RomaniA0 bt Christina McHale (US) 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; Pauline Parmentier (France) bt Chloe Paquet 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2);Georgina Garcia-Perez (Spain) bt Dalila Jakupovic (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-4; Andreas Petkovic (Germany) bt 29-Kristina Mladenovic (France) 7-6 (12-10), 6-3); Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) bt Tatjana Maria (Germany) 7-6 (7-1, 6-4.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2018