French Open 2015 Day 1: Federer leads the first round dance

Wimbledon.com's highlights from the first day of the 2015 French Open at Roland Garros as Roger Federer led those waltzing through the first round. READ MORE

By Leigh Walsh

Wimbledon.com's highlights from the first day of the 2015 French Open at Roland Garros as Roger Federer led those romping through the first round while Simona Halep and Ana Ivanovic struggled.

Roger Federer dancing. It’s a wonderful sight isn’t it? And the Swiss was at his waltzing best on the clay of Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday as he eased past Colombian Alejandro Falla. A first round victory at a Grand Slam for Roger Federer is as near a certainty as you can get in sport. It was 2003, a full 12 years ago, when he last stumbled at the first hurdle of a major, losing to Luis Horna at Roland Garros. Today, however, an upset was never on the cards as he took just one hour and 50 minutes to pick Falla apart, winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 without having his serve broken.

Federer’s compatriot Wawrinka joined him in the winner’s enclosure on Day One. The last time the duo appeared on clay in France they were 225km south in Lille hoisting the Davis Cup trophy for the first time. The Swiss No.2’s fortunes have been up and down ever since that historic victory, with titles in Chennai and Rotterdam mixed with early exits at Indian Wells and Miami. But on the opening day in Paris Wawrinka showed signs that he is kicking on after an impressive semi-final run in Rome, defeating Marsel Ilhan for the loss of just eight games.

The top-ranked women in action on Day One – Simona Halep and Ana Ivanovic – didn’t have things all their own way.

Last year’s runner-up Halep admitted that she always finds opening a tournament tough as she returned to the scene of her maiden Grand Slam final. Whatever nerves she may have felt, however, the Romanian worked through them, overcoming Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 6-4 to set up a second round clash with Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who won the pair’s only previous meeting at last year’s US Open.

When Ivanovic went one-set down against the tricky Yaroslava Shvedova on Court Suzanne Lenglen flashbacks of her first round loss at the Australian Open must have been flickering through her mind. But the 2008 champion clawed her way back, winning 12 of the last 14 games to halt the Kazakh.

Flying the flag

Nishikori has been the poster boy for Japanese tennis in recent years and there was cause for optimism this week as the world No.5 lined up alongside four compatriots in the main draw. It’s the first time five Japanese men have featured in the Roland Garros main draw since 1967 and the first time at any Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 1973.

Nishikori, the highest ranked Asian male ever, cruised through his opening match, defeating French wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets. The 25-year-old’s best showing here was a round of 16 appearance in 2013, but positioned in the weaker bottom half of the draw he has a real chance to mount a title challenge this year.

Home comforts

After missing the opening few months of the season with an arm injury, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga arrived in Paris with a little less pressure on his shoulders than usual. The Frenchman is a big crowd favourite and the spectators inside Chatrier rose to their feet to salute the 30-year-old after he secured his passage with a comfortable win over Christian Lindell. The Roland Garros faithful will be hoping it’s the first of seven wins for the man who came within two victories of a famous title in 2013.

Despite his declining ranking, Tsonga can’t be counted out. His heroics in Toronto last August, in which he posted four Top 10 wins en route to a second Masters 1000 crown, showed that when he brings his big game together it can be fairly devastating.

The upsets

Four seeds tumbled on Day One: No.31 Caroline Garcia (l. to Vekic), No.24 Shuai Peng (l. to Hercog), No.25 Ivo Karlovic (l. to Baghdatis) and No.26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (l. to Johnson).

Garcia, one of France’s bright hopes, said she was “disillusioned” after she fell to teenager Donna Vekic in three sets. “Every French Open I can't play tennis,” she lamented. “It doesn't depend on the opponent. It just depends on myself, and I can't play here. I hope that it will change in the future.”

Stat of the day

Thirty-nine players aged 30 or over feature in this year’s men draw, which is a Grand Slam record. The previous highest was 38 at Roland Garros in 2014.

“It’s nice to see I'm not the only guy over 30 still playing,” said 33-year-old Federer. “I know so many guys from juniors or for over 10, 15 years now on tour. It's a lot of fun actually seeing all those guys around. [I] actually have a lot of friends on tour, if you like, so it's quite enjoyable.”

Pick of the quotes

“I'm not trying to tell [my children] how famous I am. That's so silly. At present they don't really care. They wouldn't really understand, you know, what the word "star" would mean” – Federer on being a famous Dad.

“I'm really happy. It was [an] important match for me, for my confidence, for my season, and I hope I can turn things around from now on. It hasn't been easy” – Vekic after her big win over Garcia.

“I looked at things slightly differently this year. I thought, I'm going to enjoy every single moment. I'm 33. If I'm not in the main draw next year, that's going to be the end of it probably. No more wildcards. Who knows?” – Nicolas Mahut explains his new perspective.

Tweet of the day

Me today and the next 14 days https://twitter.com/hashtag/RG2015?src=hash">#RG2015 http://t.co/H9FCyHGmuM">pic.twitter.com/H9FCyHGmuM
— Marine✨ (@MarineSharafam) https://twitter.com/MarineSharafam/status/602422703711252481">May 24, 2015