Greek contender Stefanos Tsitsipas and Swiss great Roger Federer have both sailed into the second round of the French Open.
The sixth-seeded Tsitsipas had no trouble eliminating German Maximilian Marterer 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-4), facing only real resistance from his 110th-ranked opponent in the final set on Sunday.
The mighty Federer returned after four years to the site where he started his career at the majors 20 years ago and completed his career slam 10 years ago to beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-2 6-4 6-4.
Tsitsipas, 20, is considered one of the heirs of Federer, 11-time champ Rafael Nadal and world No.1 Novak Djokovic, in a meteoric rise this season.
He beat Federer en route to the Australian Open semis, won the clay title in Estoril, beat king of clay Rafael Nadal in the Madrid semis before losing to world number one Novak Djokovic, and was also in the Rome semis.
On Sunday, he broke in the opening game at Philippe Chatrier centre court as he dominated the first two sets.
Marterer raised his game in the third but eventually fell in the tiebreak, with Tsitsipas wrapping up matters with a cracking forehand for his 36th winner after 1 hour 48 minutes.
“I am very satisfied. I was playing really well the first two sets of the match. Better than I thought I would. Third set was tricky. I stayed mentally strong and closed the tiebreak at the end,” he said.
But Tsitsipas also admitted he has to play “twice more focused” if he also want to beat the big guns later in the tournament.
Not long afterwards the smell of fresh paint hung in the air at the famous venue as fans flocked to see Federer, the cry of ‘Roger, Roger’ ringing around as he took to the court.
It is 16 years since Federer last lost in the first round of a grand slam, to Luis Horna at the French Open in 2003, and Sonego is no mug, particularly on clay.
But, from the moment Federer’s very first shot hit the net and dropped dead on the other side, the Italian must have had a sinking feeling.
Federer was at his creative best, chopping a backhand drop shot return over the net to break for a 4-0 lead, and keeping Sonego guessing as to which of his many game plans he would deploy at any moment.
Things looked distinctly grim for the 24-year-old, ranked 73, when Federer began the second set by breaking serve twice more but he at least made a match of it after that.
Federer showed he might be mortal after all by double-faulting on break point to allow Sonego to get back to 4-2, but the third seed wrapped up the set with no further alarms.
On the men’s side, former US Open champ and 11th seed Marin Cilic ousted Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano 6-3 7-5 6-1 and Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori ousted French wildcard entry Quentin Halys 6-2 6-3 6-4.
