PARIS: Novak Djokovic got his quest for an 18th Grand Slam title back on track as he commenced his French Open campaign with a drama-free 6-0 6-2 6-3 victory over Mikael Ymer yesterday.
Little over three weeks since Djokovic was defaulted in the U.S. Open fourth round for hitting a line judge with a ball, the Serb was as cool as a cucumber as he outclassed the young Swede.
Only a smattering of fans were inside Philippe Chatrier Court as Djokovic won the opening set in 20 minutes.
Djokovic did drop serve early in the second set when an attempted drop shot fell short but there was no angry response this time, just an ironic chuckle.
The 33-year-old then led the applause for Ymer when he played a sensational between-the-legs winner Nick Kyrgios would have been proud of in the sixth game.
But it was one-way traffic as Djokovic polished off the second set with his trademark clean hitting.
The 80th-ranked Ymer, facing a world number one for the first time, stuck manfully to his task in the third set and Djokovic became a little sloppy as he handed back a service break with a double-fault after which he flexed his hand.
Top seed Djokovic, bidding for a second French Open title, glared at someone in the crowd in the following game and re-focussed to reel off the last three games for victory.
Meanwhile, world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas clawed his way back from two sets down to beat little-known Jaume Munar 4-6 2-6 6-1 6-4 6-4 and survive a first round scare.
Russian 13th seed Andrey Rublev came back from the brink to beat American Sam Querrey in five sets. The 22-year-old had never recovered a two-set deficit before but showed incredible fight to gradually turn the match around to win 6-7(5) 6-7(4) 7-5 6-4 6-3 in three hours and 17 minutes.
Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut recovered from a slow start to beat home hope Richard Gasquet 7-6(5) 6-2 6-1 and reach the second round.
In the second round, Bautista Agut will play Hungarian Attila Balazs, who earlier defeated Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-2 6-3 7-5.
In the women’s draw, Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova managed to rein in her errors and found a way past battling Egyptian qualifier Mayar Sherif with a 6-7(9) 6-2 6-4 victory in the opening round.
Former world number one Pliskova had 27 unforced errors and hit six double faults in the first set under the open roof of Court Philippe Chatrier, struggling to find winners from her power game in slow conditions.
Teenage Danish qualifier Clara Tauson caused a shock as she saved two match points to beat American 21st seed Jennifer Brady 6-4 3-6 9-7 in the opening round.
The powerful 17-year-old, making her main draw debut in Grand Slams with a ranking of 188, played fearless tennis to edge out the recent US Open semi-finalist.
American fourth seed Sofia Kenin recovered from a mid-match slump to defeat big-hitting Liudmila Samsonova 6-4 3-6 6-3 in a rain-interrupted first round match.
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