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Big names progress at French Open

Nick Kyrgios takes on John Isner in the Davis Cup. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Roar Guru
26th May, 2015
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The first round of matches at the French Open are almost over and as expected, most, if not all, of the leading contenders have passed the tricky first hurdle, while some were not so lucky.

Among those who have progressed include the large contingent of Aussies led by Nick Kyrgios and Samantha Stosur.

The former defeated Denis Istomin in his first Grand Slam match as a seeded player while the latter made light work of Madison Brengle as her recent impressive form continued.

Kyrgios is projected to meet Andy Murray in the third round, but must first win his second round match against British qualifier Kyle Edmund to get this far at the French Open for the first time.

Murray, on the other hand, will play Joao Sousa in his second round match after defeating lucky loser Facundo Arguello in his first match.

Not only has the Scot won their two meetings in straight sets to date, he also arrives at Roland Garros as one of the form players on the ATP World Tour, having picked up titles in Munich and Madrid, the latter at the expense of Rafael Nadal.

And while the French Open has proved to be statistically and historically his worst Grand Slam tournament, ironically he achieved his best performance at this level last year by reaching the semi-finals, only to be beaten by eventual champion Nadal.

Thus, if the third round meeting between Murray and Kyrgios eventuates, the 20-year-old Aussie will have to be at his very best if he is to get as far as the fourth round for the third time in four Grand Slam tournaments.

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Stosur, on the other hand, also arrived in Paris as one of the form players of the competition, picking up her seventh career title in Strasbourg after entering the tournament as a wildcard entry.

Her defeat of Brengle, who reached the fourth round at the Australian Open earlier this year, has brought the Queenslander to within one win of a possible third round showdown against defending champion and world number two Maria Sharapova.

As a matter of fact, Sharapova defeated Stosur in three sets on her way to winning the French Open for a second time last year. Her draw had opened up with the shock second round departure of defending champion Serena Williams, who had been due to face the Russian in the quarter-finals.

But before that third round showdown can eventuate, Stosur must first defeat French wildcard Amandine Hesse, who defeated Jarmila Gajdosova in her opener in three sets, while Sharapova faces compatriot and Fed Cup teammate Vitalia Diatchenko in her next match.

Among the other Aussies, Bernard Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis will go head-to-head in an intriguing all-Australian second rounder for, potentially, the right to face world number one and tournament favourite Novak Djokovic in the third round.

Both overcame the loss of the first set to defeat qualifiers Nikoloz Basilashvili and Luca Vanni in their respective matches. Their second round showdown will mean that not only one Australian man is guaranteed in the third round, but one of them will also record his best career result at Roland Garros.

Tomic reached the second round in 2012 while for Kokkinakis this is his first appearance in the main draw at the French Open, having twice previously contested the Australian Open, including earlier this year where he defeated Ernests Gulbis in a first round marathon before ultimately losing to compatriot Sam Groth in the second round.

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Already the pair have met twice this year, at Brisbane and Indian Wells, with Tomic taking the points and going on to reach the quarter-finals on both occasions.

On the latter, he was forced to withdraw prior to a match against Novak Djokovic due to a back injury. Thus, if he does defeat Kokkinakis on Wednesday, then he will more than likely earn his long-awaited shot at the Djoker in the third round.

Aussie imports Ajla Tomljanovic and Daria Gavrilova also progressed, but both will have to face German opposition if they are to progress to the third round.

Tomljanovic, who must still play under the Croatian flag on the WTA Tour until her Australian citizenship is finalised, took an hour to dispatch of Western Australian Casey Dellacqua in her first round match, winning in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

The 22-year-old, who in February reached her first career final in Pattaya where she lost to Daniela Hantuchova, and defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round here last year, will now take on 11th seed Angelique Kerber after she defeated Hungarian Timea Babos for the loss of just one game in her first match.

Gavrilova, who recently reached the semi-finals in Rome after emerging from qualifying, won her first Grand Slam match at the expense of Swede Johanna Larsson and will now face 20th seed Sabine Lisicki in her second match.

Among the other notable results, Swiss pair Stan Wawrinka and Roger Federer remain on track to meet in the quarter-finals, after both posted wins over Marsel Ilhan and Alejandro Falla in their respective openers.

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Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori, Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych and local pair Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils also progressed, but the Spanish seeded pair of Feliciano Lopez and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez have crashed out.

2013 runner-up David Ferrer and reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic also progressed, and both men could meet in the fourth round for the right to possibly face Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.

Among the women, former champion Ana Ivanovic recorded her first French Open match win after losing the first set, overhauling two-time quarter-finalist Yaroslava Shvedova to win in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

The Serb will fancy her chances of going deep into the tournament after her projected third-round opponent, Caroline Garcia, crashed out following a three-set loss to world number 165 Donna Vekic.

However, so too will ninth seed Ekaterina Makarova, who has not yet reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros but has reached the semi-finals in her last two Grand Slam starts, including at this year’s Australian Open.

Ivanovic and Makarova are projected to meet in the fourth round; their head-to-head is one-apiece with both trading wins in the first round of Grand Slam tournaments (Ivanovic at the 2010 US Open, and Makarova at the 2011 Australian Open).

Agnieszka Radwanska’s poor season continued on Monday night (AEST) when she lost to 2012 junior champion Annika Beck in in three sets, suffering just her third Grand Slam opening round exit since debuting at Wimbledon in 2006.

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27th seed Victoria Azarenka is now just one win away from a potential blockbuster third round showdown against world number one Serena Williams, after she made light work of Spaniard Maria Teresa Torro Flor in straight sets.

Last year’s finalist, Simona Halep, will face a massive hurdle as she bids to return to the final, as she faces the woman who upset her at last year’s US Open, Croat veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, in the second round.

Sloane Stephens, Garbine Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova, former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, former finalist Sara Errani and reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova are also among the other notable names to have progressed to Round 2.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: As of this article going to print, other notable names like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Eugenie Bouchard were yet to play their first round matches.

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