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Roland Garros Day 3: Djokovic ruthless, Pliskova, Kenin advance

  • Matt Trollope

World No.1 Novak Djokovic powered through his opening match at the French Open on a day that saw the first round completed in Paris.

Another reigning Australian Open champion, Sofia Kenin, was also a winner on Tuesday, as were fellow Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko and Sloane Stephens.

In-form seeds Karolina Pliskova, Stefanos Tsitispas and Andrey Rublev were pushed to the brink before advancing on Day 3, which ultimately saw few upsets.

Djokovic ruthless in round one

The top seed dropped just five games in dismissing Swede Mikael Ymer on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Djokovic, a French Open champion in 2016 and a winner last week in Rome, smacked 32 winners to 12 in the 6-0 6-2 6-3 win, which sets up a second-round meeting with Ricardas Berankis.

DRAW: French Open men's singles

Also progressing comfortably were No.7 seed Matteo Berrettini, a 6-3 6-1 6-3 victor over Vasek Pospisil, and 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov, who sailed past France’s Gregoire Barrere 6-3 6-2 6-2. Roberto Bautista Agut, the No.10 seed, saw off Richard Gasquet in straight sets.

Yet Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev – who clashed in the Hamburg final just two days ago – both trailed by two sets to love before recovering; Tsitsipas did so over Jaume Munar while Rublev, who won that Hamburg final, beat Sam Querrey.

Meanwhile, Australian lucky loser Marc Polmans upset world No.38 Ugo Humbert in four sets in his first appearance in the main draw at Roland Garros, and will next face No.20 seed Cristian Garin.

Pliskova battles through, Ostapenko next

Pliskova, the second seed who reached last week's Rome final, was in all sorts of trouble against qualifier Mayar Sherif, the first Egyptian woman to play in a Grand Slam main draw.

Despite blowing eight set points in the first set and delivering eight double faults on her normally trusty serve, the No.2 seed finally sealed a 6-7(9) 6-2 6-4 win to advance.

She next meets Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion who crushed 46 winners in a 6-2 6-1 demolition of American Madison Brengle. 

In a tough segment of the draw, the winner of Pliskova-Ostapenko could then face 2018 French finalist Sloane Stephens, who beat Vitalia Ditchenko 6-2 6-2 to set up a second-round clash with Spain’s Paula Badosa.

Fourth seed Kenin, whose last outing was a 6-0 6-0 loss to Victoria Azarenka in Rome, corrected course with a three-set win over Liudmila Samsonova, while No.8 seed Aryna Sabalenka and 14th seed Elena Rybakina were commanding first-round winners over Jessica Pegula and Sorana Cirstea respectively. 

Upset of the day

The biggest name to tumble was No.21 seed Jennifer Brady, a recent US Open semifinalist who had not played a match since that breakthrough.

Although she had only played a limited amount on clay at tour-level, many expected the American’s heavy serve and forehand to translate well to the surface.

DRAW: French Open women's singles

Yet in a high-quality affair, Danish qualifier Clara Tauson, just 17 years old, recovered from 4-2 down in the final set and saved two match points in the 12th game to eventually record a 6-4 3-6 9-7 win. 

Tauson next faces Danielle Collins, a 2-6 6-2 6-1 winner over Monica Niculescu on Tuesday.

Stat of the day

Incredibly, Ostapenko’s victory over Brengle was her first win at the French Open outside of her title run in 2017.

The Latvian fell in the first round of qualifying in 2015, then in the first round of the main draw in 2016 to Naomi Osaka. 

After completing the most stunning of Grand Slam triumphs as an unseeded player the next year, she then lost her first-round match in 2018, as the defending champion, to Kateryna Kozlova.

Victoria Azarenka beat her in the first round in 2019.

Quotes of the day

“I know the past few weeks have been a little bit difficult with certain losses that I had and a bit unusual, to be honest, but I'm trying to learn from them, grow from them, and trying to put them behind and continue stronger.”
- Stefanos Tsitsipas

“I felt like this is where I belong, on the big stadiums with attention, all the people out there. I felt great. I would love to play on one of those courts again. I'm sure I will be back to play on them (smiling).”
- World No.172 Mayar Sherif, who pushed Karolina Pliskova to three sets on Court Philippe Chatrier.

“I went 0-4 in serving out sets. I would like to think that will never happen to me again, it's probably never happened, someone with my serve, I can't let that happen.”
- Sam Querrey, who led Andrey Rublev two sets to love before losing 6-7(5) 6-7(4) 7-5 6-4 6-3.

“I'm able to run. I'm able to jump, to slide on clay, which is very important. I can run any direction. I can say that I'm ready 100 per cent to play, to compete. That's everything I need.”
- Former top-10 player Daria Kasatkina, who suffered a nasty ankle injury in Rome, was a 6-1 6-2 winner over Harmony Tan in the first round.

“I am definitely very confident. I won every match that I played this year except obviously the one in New York where I was disqualified. If you keep on winning, obviously with every match that you win your confidence level raises a notch higher. I'm ready physically, mentally, emotionally to go deep in the tournament.”
- Novak Djokovic

Tweet of the day

Day 4: Ones to watch

Second round action begins on Wednesday, with Day 4 headlined by a US Open quarterfinal rematch between Serena Williams and Tsvetana Pironkova – a match Williams won in three sets just three weeks ago.

Several men’s matches promise to be entertaining encounters, with No.6 seed Alexander Zverev taking on Pierre-Hugues Herbert, third seed Dominic Thiem against former top-10 player Jack Sock and Stan Wawrinka facing Rome quarterfinalist Dominik Koepfer.

ORDER OF PLAY: French Open Day 4

The most recent French Open champions in the draw, Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep, are also in action, on Chatrier and Lenglen respectively.

And the women’s draw has delivered two intriguing match-ups, with No.5 seed Kiki Bertens up against 2012 French finalist Sara Errani and 16th seed Elise Mertens to meet Grand Slam giantkiller Kaia Kanepi.