French Open: Zverev stuns Rafael Nadal in first-round;  Swiatek, Sinner ease into second round

Paris: Alexander Zverev added another feather to his crown, becoming only the third player in recent times to beat 14-time champion Rafael Nadal in the French Open, handing the Spanish legend a straight sets defeat in a blockbuster first-round encounter here on Monday.

With World No.1 Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz watching from the stands, Zverev defeated Nadal 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 in a three-hour battle at the Court Philippe-Chatrier on Monday afternoon.

The clash between Nadal and Zvarev, the fourth seed from Germany, was the marquee match on the second day at Roland Garros. But it ended in disappointment for the Spanish clay-court specialist who is now virtually in the final stages of his career following multiple injury breaks.

After just over 45 minutes Zverev broke for a second time in the match to wrap up the first set against Nadal 6-3. The German broke Nadal’s service in the first game and set the early tone for the match. Some big serving enabled Zverev to keep his nose in front thereafter as Nadal battled hard to stay in the set but lost a long ninth game to drop serve for a second time.

The same trend continued, and Zverev took a stranglehold on the match by edging the second set tiebreak 7-5. Rafa had his chances in that set -– he served for it at 5-4 only to be broken to love and he had two break points with the German serving at 5-5. There wasn’t much to separate the two players in the shootout either when they swapped ends at 3-3. The fourth seed produced a winning drop volley to go up a mini break at 4-3 and came through a 19-shot exchange to extend that lead to 5-3.

A packed house was treated to a bit of Nadal magic with a rocket of a forehand pass to bring the scores back to 5-4 but a poor drop shot then left Zverev up 6-4 and with two set points. The right-hander converted the second of those to go up two sets to love and leave the left-handed 14-time Roland Garros champion staring at an early exit.

Meanwhile  women’s world No.1 Iga Swiatek opened her title defence at the French Open on Monday with a trademark performance, romping to a straight sets victory against local qualifier Leolia Jeanjean on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the French capital.

 Swiatek surged to a 6-1, 6-2 victory in quick time, thus registering her 15th consecutive win in the French Open, improving her first-round record at Roland Garros to 6-0. She is the first woman to win 15 consecutive matches at the French Open since Justine Henin, who took 24 consecutive matches between 2005-10.

Italian world number two Jannik Sinner looked fully recovered from his injury problems as he saw off American Christopher Eubanks 6-3 6-3 6-4 in first round on Monday.

Former runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas kicked off his French Open campaign with a no-nonsense 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 6-1 victory over Hungarian journeyman Marton Fucsovics.

American star Coco Gauff scored a swift win as did No.8 seed Ons Jabeur, who also kicked off her campaign on the right foot in women's singles first round on Monday. Gauff, the third seed, put paid to Grand Slam debutante Julia Avdeeva's hopes of an upset on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, running out a convincing 6-1, 6-1 winner in just 52 minutes.

Jabeur started off her Roland Garros campaign with a solid 6-3, 6-2 defeat of wildcard Sachia Vickery in one hour and 21 minutes.(Agencies)

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