PARIS, May 24 (Reuters) – Highlights of the first day at the French Open on Sunday (times GMT):
2134 DJOKOVIC OVERCOMES PERRICARD
Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic defeaed local hope Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 5-7 7-5 6-1 6-4 in the first round.
1854 BASAVAREDDY SHOCKS FRITZ
Seventh seed Taylor Fritz was stunned by fellow American Nishesh Basavareddy, ranked 148th in the world, as the 21-year-old wildcard beat him 7-6(5) 7-6(5) 6-7(9) 6-1 in the first round.
1749 FONSECA THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND
Brazilian 19-year-old Joao Fonseca cruised to victory in the first round, beating Luka Pavlovic 7-6(6) 6-4 6-2. The 28th seed, who reached the third round last year, next faces Croatia’s Dino Prizmic.
1730 RADUCANU FALLS TO SIERRA
Britain’s Emma Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, was sent packing by Argentine Solana Sierra 6-0 7-6(4).
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1548 ANDREEVA CRUSHES FERRO
Russian eighth seed Mirra Andreeva, 2024 French Open semi-finalist, carved out a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over Frenchwoman Fiona Ferro.
1514 BAPTISTE KNOCKS OUT FORMER CHAMPION KREJCIKOVA
American 26th seed Hailey Baptiste recovered from a set down to eliminate 2021 French Open and 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-7(7) 7-6(6) 6-2.
1414 ZVEREV DOMINATES BONZI
German second seed Alexander Zverev began his quest for a first Grand Slam title with a straight-sets win over Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, 6-3 6-4 6-2.
A three-time Grand Slam runner-up, including at Roland Garros in 2024, Zverev will sense an opportunity with two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz missing the tournament through a wrist injury.
However, the 29-year-old still faces a formidable challenge, with world number one Jannik Sinner in ruthless form.
1205 KHACHANOV TAKES OUT GEA
Russian 13th seed Karen Khachanov knocked out French wildcard Arthur Gea 6-3 7-6(3) 6-0.
1142 BENCIC POWERS PAST KRAUS
Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic made light work of Austria’s Sinja Kraus, cruising to a 6-2 6-3 victory on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist will be aiming for a deep run this year, having never progressed beyond the third round at Roland Garros.
0909 PLAY UNDER WAY
Play began under sunny skies, with the temperature at Roland Garros hovering around 28 degrees Celsius and public weather service Meteo France forecasting a high of 34 degrees later in the day.
Former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, seeded 11th, will take on Austrian qualifier Sinja Kraus in the first match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
FRENCH OPEN ORDER OF PLAY ON SUNDAY (prefix number denotes seeding):
COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIER (play begins at 1000 GMT)
Sinja Kraus (Austria) v 11-Belinda Bencic (Switzerland)
Benjamin Bonzi (France) v 2-Alexander Zverev (Germany)
8-Mirra Andreeva (Russia) v Fiona Ferro (France)
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (France) v 3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
COURT SUZANNE LENGLEN (play begins at 0900 GMT)
13-Karen Khachanov (Russia) v Arthur Gea (France)
26-Hailey Baptiste (United States) v Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic)
7-Taylor Fritz (U.S.) v Nishesh Basavareddy (U.S.)
Ksenia Efremova (France) v 18-Sorana Cirstea (Romania)
COURT SIMONNE MATHIEU (play begins at 0900 GMT)
15-Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) v Oksana Selekhmeteva (Russia)
Katie Volynets (U.S.) v Clara Burel (France)
Titouan Droguet (France) v 26-Jakub Mensik (Czech Republic)
28-Joao Fonseca (Brazil) v Luka Pavlovic (France)
(Compiled by Aadi Nair, Pearl Josephine Nazare and Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Tommy Lund i Gdansk, Editing by Ken Ferris, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Ed Osmond)
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