PARIS: Roger Federer marked his return to the French Open with a straight sets defeat of Uzbekistan qualifier Denis Istomin on Monday.
The 39-year-old Federer, the champion in Paris in 2009 but playing the event for only the second time since 2015, won 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
It was his eighth win in eight meetings with Istomin and gave him a second round clash against either former US Open winner Marin Cilic or French wild card Arthur Rinderknech, AFP reported.
Federer, who skipped the 2020 tournament, was playing just his fourth match of the year and first at a Slam since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals last year.
Meanwhile, defending French Open champion Iga Swiatek picked up Monday right where she left off last year in winning the title: running yet another opponent this way and that on the red clay of Roland Garros in a take-no-prisoners straight-sets victory.
Her best friend on the tennis circuit, Kaja Juvan, was the victim on Court Philippe Chatrier this time as Swiatek emphatically kicked off her campaign to become the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to defend the French Open title.
Playing on her 20th birthday, Swiatek treated herself to a 6-0, 7-5 victory her eighth straight-sets win in a row at Roland Garros, having also not dropped a set in winning the trophy last year as an unseeded 19-year-old.
In first-round play in the men's draw, rising Italian star Jannik Sinner, a quarterfinalist on his debut at Roland Garros last year, had a far harder time. He saved match point in a 6-1, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4 win over Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
And Daniil Medvedev proved that perseverance pays, finally winning a French Open match on his fifth attempt. The second-seeded Russian beat Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, after four previous first-round losses on the Parisian clay. In pre-tournament practice on the clay, Swiatek tested her high-kicking forehand and double-handed backhand against the master of those arts at Roland Garros: Rafael Nadal.