Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates his victory over US Aleksandar Kovacevic during their men’s singles match on day two of the Roland-Garros Open tennis tournament at the Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris on May 29, 2023. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)
PARIS – Novak Djokovic launched his quest for a record 23rd men’s Grand Slam singles title with a 6-3 6-2 7-6(1) victory over Aleksandar Kovacevic in the French Open first round before risking controversy by writing a political message on a camera.
World number one Carlos Alcaraz also came through with flying colors as the Spaniard crushed Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli 6-0 6-2 7-5 in his first Grand Slam match since winning the U.S. Open title last year.
Twice Roland Garros champion Djokovic breezed through the first two sets before encountering resistance from the 24-year-old American.
He ended the contest with a sizzling service return on his first match point and will take on Hungarian journeyman Marton Fucsovics for a place in the third round.
“It’s always a pleasure to come back here, one of the best tournaments in the world,” said Djokovic, who made his Roland Garros debut in 2005.
“I’m very motivated to go far here, all the way I hope.”
However, he risked courting controversy by writing “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence” on a camera lens in Serbian as he departed.
Around 25 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters on Monday, while Serbia’s president put the army on the highest level of combat alert.
Roland Garros organizers said there were no official Grand Slam rules on what players can or cannot say.
Jannik Sinner closed out the night session with a dominant win as the eighth seed downed Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-1 6-4 6-1 to book a clash with Daniel Altmaier.
Dominic Thiem took his main draw spot after the withdrawal of 14-times champion Rafa Nadal – his conqueror in the 2018 and 2019 finals but the injury-plagued Austrian fell to Argentine Pedro Cachin who won 6-3 6-2 6-7(1) 4-6 6-2.
Italian veteran Fabio Fognini showed he was still a force to be reckoned with as he dismissed ailing 10th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-4 6-3, making the Canadian the first top-10 player in the men’s draw to crash out.
Wawrinka through
Stan Wawrinka also made his way into the second round after the 2015 champion beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(5) 6-4 6-7(2) 1-6 6-4 in an epic battle lasting more than four hours.
Zhang Zhizhen later became the first Chinese man in the Open Era to win a main draw match at the French Open as Dusan Lajovic retired while down 6-1 4-1.
Two former runners-up made quite an impression in the women’s draw.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova celebrated her return to Roland Garros with a dominant win over Czech Linda Fruhvirtova after fearing for her career a year ago due to a knee problem.
The 31-year-old enjoyed her best run at a Grand Slam in the 2021 tournament when she reached the final, and skipped last year’s edition as well as the second half of the season to nurse an injury.
Sloane Stephens, runner-up in 2018, dismantled former world number one Karolina Pliskova 6-0 6-4.
Although everything went smoothly on court for the American, she said racist abuse of players had got worse.
“Yes, it’s obviously been a problem my entire career,” said Stephens, who is Black. “It has never stopped. If anything, it’s only gotten worse.”
Former world number three Elina Svitolina celebrated a winning return to Grand Slam tennis with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Italy’s Martina Trevisan following her one-year maternity break and the Ukrainian quickly waded into a debate over the war in her country.
She said since her return to the tennis tour in April the focus had not been on the suffering of Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion last year.
“What I found is… a lot rubbish is happening around the situation where we have to focus on what the main point of what is going on,” Svitolina said when asked what she had been hearing on the tour since her comeback.
Caroline Garcia, who is carrying French hopes for a first Roland Garros singles champion since Mary Pierce in 2000, fought her way into the second round by downing China’s Wang Xiyu 7-6(4) 4-6 6-4.
It was the end of the road for Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, however, as the Swiss player lost 6-3 2-6 6-4 against lucky loser Elina Avanesyan.
Double Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova, the 10th seed, fell to a 6-3 6-4 defeat to Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto while 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko battled back from 1-5 down in the second set to beat Tereza Martincova 6-3 7-5.