Roland Garros : Nadal, Djokovic Advance

Djokovic gets a test in first-round match at French Open

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic progressed into the second round of French Open with a difficult straight sets victory over the experienced Jarkko Nieminen. The Serb who aims to add the French Open trophy in his trophy cabinet and also is keen to complete his career grand slam, led three other fellow top-10 seeded players into the second round with a 6-2, 7-54, 6-2 victory.

Djokovic has entered this tournament with a rather boastful unbeaten record of 23 matches leading to this tournament; he has also won the last four out of five ATP Masters 1000 prior to the French Open.

But he explained how it was quite hard for him to come back to the court again and win this tough encounter against a seasoned-campaigner like Nieminen. He said, “I was aware of the quality and experience of my opponent today, who has shown, and especially in the second set, why he’s been around the tour and a successful, consistent player for so many years.”

Rafa Nadal gets off to winning start; Defeats Quentin Halys

The nine-times Roland Garros winner, Rafael Nadal looked to be at his normal self with a regulation straight set victory of 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 over French wildcard entrant, Quentin Halys. Nadal comes into the tournament with a record of not winning a Masters title on clay leading up to the Grand Slam in Paris and also is seeded sixth this time.

His game against the well-built Frenchman showed some confidence and his statements sound off warning signs for his opponents. “I am here to try and play good tennis as I try every year. My mentality and my goal is the same always”.

 Leander Paes records 700 Doubles Match Win.

The 41-year-old Indian Ace, Leander Paes became the eighth man in ATP World Tour History to record 700 doubles match wins. The three-time Roland Garros winner, partnering with Daniel Nestor beat the Australian pair of Duckworth-Guccione 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 to start-off the tournament with a challenging match.

Leander has won the French Open thrice in 1999, 2001 and 2009 with Bhupathi (twice) and Dlouhy respectively. Meanwhile, Daniel Nestor had won the titles in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012 with Knowles, Zimonjic and Mirnyi (twice).

The Indo-Canadian pair will next face either Butorac-Groth or Begemann-Knowles.

Edited by :  Akanksha Agarwal