The match, a 39th meeting between the two men, was played in exceptionally windy conditions at Roland Garros but Federer was unable to blow the defending champion off course.
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Claycourt master Rafael Nadal quickly adapted to the new surroundings at Roland Garros with a demolition of German qualifier, Yannick Hanfmann in the first round of the French Open on Monday.
ger Federer counts himself as an “outsider” for the French Open title this year and says he is not merely trying to temper expectations on his return to the clay court Grand Slam following a four-year absence.
Roger Federer marked his return to Roland Garros after a four-year absence with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win over Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on Sunday and said he had “missed playing in Paris so much”.
German fifth seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber saw her hopes of a career Grand Slam ended by Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova at Roland Garros on Sunday as Roger Federer prepared to make his Paris return after a four-year absence.
Serena Williams represents the United States’ best chance to hoist the French Open trophy this year, but questions loom about her fitness after she was forced to withdraw from the Italian Open last week with a knee injury.
Roger Federer is planning on taking part in this season’s clay-court season, saying he has “missed not doing it”.
Barring one wobble at the start of the third set, when he was briefly a break down, it was a brutally effective start to the Championships from the world No 1, who won 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 50 minutes.
Ranked 183 after just three tournaments back, the seven-time champion will go into Wimbledon as the 25th seed, the seeding committee having deviated from the WTA ranking list, an exception because she is coming back after maternity leave.
The 32-year-old world number one now has 17 Grand Slam titles, just three behind great rival Roger Federer
The previous match up saw the Spaniard beat del Potro in straight sets in the opening round in 2007.
Three of the last six women’s events at Roland Garros have been won by either Muguruza or Sharapova, but it was the 2016 champion who eased to a 6-2 6-1 success on Wednesday.
Romanian Halep, twice a runner-up at Roland Garros, started slowly but once she found her groove, there was nothing the 16th seed could do to avoid a one-sided defeat.
Svitolina had been tipped as one of the potential winners for the second year in a row after winning the Italian Open, but she never found her groove on Court One.
The victory ensured that Zverev secured his first trip to the last 16 at Roland Garros.
A comprehensive 6-2 6-1 6-1 victory for the Spaniard set up a meeting with 27th seed Richard Gasquet.
With rain showers forecast at Roland Garros the 31-year-old wasted no time on Court Suzanne Lenglen after saving four break points in the first game against the 78th-ranked Pella.
It was a far from easy first Grand Slam appearance back for the American, but she closed out a hard-fought win in two tight sets.
Resuming the match on Tuesday after a thunderstorm ended the previous night’s play early in the third set, Nadal was forced to an entertaining tiebreak to wrap up a hard-fought French Open first round encounter.
The Czech risked crashing out in the hands of little-known Paraguayan Veronica Royg before she rallied to a 3-6 6-1 7-5 win.