Roger Federer’s first match at any major tournament in 16 months ended with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory over qualifier Denis Istomin at the French Open. It was a case of many happy returns — and serves, forehands, backhands, volleys and drop shots, too.
Showing no signs of rust, really, or trouble with the right knee that needed two operations last year, Federer produced more than twice as many winners as unforced errors — 48 to 20 — and never faced a break point while improving to 8-0 against Istomin over their careers.
Federer, whose 40th birthday is August 8, hadn’t appeared on the Grand Slam stage since Jan. 30, 2020, when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the Australian Open.
Before Federer’s match, reigning women’s champion Iga Swiatek made a winning start to her French Open title defence with a straight-sets victory over Kaja Juvan, while men’s second seed Daniil Medvedev finally reached round two for the first time at Roland Garros.
Swiatek, celebrating her 20th birthday, saw off her good friend Juvan 6-0, 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The Polish player, who became the first major singles champion from her country last October, hit 22 winners in an impressive opening to her bid for a second straight Roland Garros triumph.
“I tried to put it behind me (being defending champion) and kind of use it in a positive way because I just know that I’m feeling good here,†said the eighth seed, who was presented with flowers on court after the match for her birthday.
“Obviously it’s different. It’s more stressful a little bit.â€
Medvedev, who had lost in the first round in all of his four previous appearances in the tournament, put his poor clay-court form behind him by beating the dangerous Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.
It is not just in Paris that Medvedev has struggled on clay. The Russian had lost eight of his previous nine matches on the surface dating back to 2019.
But the two-time Grand Slam runner-up was too strong for Kazakh Bublik, setting up a second-round tie against either Australian wildcard Christopher O’Connell or US player Tommy Paul.
“It was a good match and I’ve been training really well,†said the 25-year-old Medvedev, who lost the Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic in February.
“I’d never won at Roland Garros before so I really wanted to win today. To win in three sets was a brilliant match on my part.
Medvedev is bidding to take advantage of being in the opposite half of the draw to 13-time champion Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Federer, while fourth seed Dominic Thiem was knocked out on Sunday.
Elsewhere on Monday, Italian teenager Jannik Sinner, the 18th seed, saved a match point against home favourite Pierre-Hugues Herbert to win 6-1, 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-4.
John Isner won the battle of the American big-servers with Sam Querrey 7-6 (7/2), 6-3, 6-4, while former women's finalist Marketa Vondrousova came from a set down to beat Kaia Kanepi 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
