Tennis:A relaxed Rafael Nadal strolled into the second round of the French Open with a 6-2 6-2 6-1 victory over Italian Simone Bolelli at Roland Garros.
The Spaniard is always his own harshest critic and often struggles in the early rounds of Grand Slams, particularly here last year, when he was two sets to one down against John Isner before winning in five and then going on to lift the title for a sixth time.
There were no such alarms for Nadal today, with his only slightly sticky patch coming when he lost two games in a row from 4-0 in the second set and had to save break points to avoid giving away a third.
Nadal said: “I was less stressed compared with last year. I was a bit frightened, but I think I took control. I felt comfortable.
“I made a mistake when it was 6-2 4-0, and I had a series of good shots. Then I lost control and then it was 4-2. He wanted to break me, but he couldn’t for the third time. Then afterwards I felt really comfortable.
“It’s a court that’s not easy to play on, but the longer you stay on the court, the better it is. You can find your feet. It’s the first week, and I think it’s one of my best first rounds at Roland Garros.
“I hope that in two days I’ll play even better. I’ll do my best so that I can play better. But I’m really satisfied. I feel really good. I didn’t do anything special, that’s true, but I feel really good.”
Nadal’s compatriot David Ferrer, the sixth seed, is expected to put up a good showing at Roland Garros this year and he began in fine style with a 6-3 6-4 6-1 victory over Lukas Lacko.
Andy Murray was content with his start to what he hopes will be another long run at the French Open.
The world number four was a big favourite to beat Japanese debutant Tatsuma Ito and his only moments of concern came in the second set when the 24-year-old hit a hot streak. But Murray survived and raced through the third set to win 6-1 7-5 6-0 and set up a second-round clash with Finnish world number 48 Jarkko Nieminen.
“It was pretty good,” said Murray. “He played well for a five or six-game stretch in that second set and I played one bad game on my serve.
“The first and third sets were very comfortable. The second set could have been, but I obviously played a bad game. For a first-round match in a slam, it’s a good start.”
Eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic also made it through, although he had a much tougher time against America’s Sam Querrey, the Serb eventually prevailing 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7/3) 6-3.
Talented Frenchman Richard Gasquet, seeded 17th, was given a tough time by Estonian qualifier Jurgen Zopp on Court Philippe Chatrier before coming through 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7/4).
Gasquet next faces Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, who has so far failed to live up to his unenviable tag as the next Roger Federer.
Now 21 and ranked 87th in the world, Dimitrov beat another former junior prodigy, America’s Donald Young, 7-6 (7/3) 6-1 6-1 in the first round.
Spain’s Nicolas Almagro could be a threat in the later stages and the 12th seed began with a 6-3 7-5 6-4 victory over Paolo Lorenzi while 13th seed Juan Monaco saw off Frenchman Guillaume Rufin 6-2 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7/3).
However, 15th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov is out after losing an all-Ukrainian clash with Sergiy Stakhovsky in a five-setter held over from the last night. It was a one-set shoot-out today, which Stakhovsky took to triumph 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 7-6 (7/4) 3-6 6-3.
France’s Jeremy Chardy was in a similar situation and he finally prevailed 6-4 6-1 6-7 (3/7) 3-6 11-9 against Lu Yen-hsun, while seeds Julien Benneteau, Florian Mayer and Mikhail Youzhny are also through.