Roger Federer began his French Open campaign with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Slovak Lukas Lacko on Sunday to reach the second round with minimal difficulty.
The fourth seed, whose two sets of twins, including newborn boys Leo and Lenny, are in Paris for the event, defeated Lacko for the second time in as many majors after also knocking the Slovak out of the Australian Open in January.
“I’m happy I got off to a good start for the tournament, there’s always that little bit of feeling that if you don’t feel well, if the opponent plays great, whatever happens so you could lose early,” said the 17-time grand slam champion who won Paris in 2009.
“I was happy getting early signs out of the match that I was actually playing well and I was going to get my chances I was looking for. I’m very pleased with the outcome, very satisfied.” Federer won his first match as a father of four after a loss in Rome while Lacko set foot on a clay court for the first time since Paris a year ago.
“I had everything under control from A to Z,” said a satisfied Federer. “On my serve games there was never a dangerous moment. On the return games I think I seized many opportunities.
“There was a moment when I had to take the break, which is what I did. I did it quite often and that’s why the match was rather easy for me.”
Milos Raonic, seeded eighth, and a Rome semi-finalist who took a set off of world number two Novak Djokovic, put in a similar effortless performance as he started with a win against Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.
Raonic won with his 27th ace and also said that he felt in relative control throughout against a youngster who had a hit several weeks ago in Zurich with Federer.
“I felt very good, I was able to do the things I wanted to do,” said the Canadian, who next plays the winner from Czechs Lukasz Rosol and Jiri Vesely.
“In the first round you go in not knowing exactly how things are going to play out. When it mattered, I was able to put forward the right attitude and the right level of tennis. I’m happy with that.” Sixth seed Tomas Berdych beat Canadian qualifier Peter Polansky 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 while tenth seed John Isner began with a win against Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.
Russian 15th seed Mikhail Youzhny spent three hours in a 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 comeback from the depths.
Finn Jarkko Nieminen spent almost four hours in victory as he overcame Pole Michal Przysiezny 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4 while Czech veteran Radek Stepanek advanced over Facundo Arguello 6-7 (8-10), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Pole Jerzy Janowicz won his first match in three months as he defeated Victor Estrella 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4.
Women's Singles
In women’s play, the bright floral print dress of Agnieszka Radwanska attracted most of the attention during the third seeds’ 6-3, 6-0 defeat of China’s Shuai Zhang, with tweets on the dress which looked slightly out of place on a tennis court flowing freely.
Radwanska put her foot down later, “Well, everybody loved that dress. I really had a lot of good opinions.”
Holder Serena Williams began her title defence by beating French training friend Alize Lim 6-2, 6-1. Unseeded sister Venus Williams beat Swiss 17-year-old Belinda Bencic — nearly half her age, 6-4, 6-1.
Daniela Hantuchova put out Serb Jovana Jaksic, whose screams on shots are said to be some of the loudest in the game, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.