Dimitrov among French Open seeds to win

May 28, 2017 - 7:55 PM Grigor Dimitrov has won his first match in four years at the French Open to reach the second round of the clay-court major.

Bulgarian Dimitrov made light work of veteran Frenchman Stephane Robert to win 6-2 6-3 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"It was a good test," 11th-seed Dimitrov said. "I knew what to expect, I just had to fight."

Spain's Albert Ramos, the 19th seed, has fought back from a set down to defeat Romanian Marius Copil 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 6-4 6-2.

His reward is a match-up with Benjamin Bonzi, after the Frenchman's opponent Daniil Medvedev retired with the score at 5-7 6-4 6-1 3-1.

The oldest man in the singles draw at Roland Garros has prevailed over one of the youngest.

Ivo Karlovic, 28, who is also known for his big serve and 6-foot-11 (2.11-metre) stature, advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 6-4 win over Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas.

"I did not know anything about him, so was trying to look around a little bit on the Internet," Karlovic said.

"I did not really know what to expect and he can hit really hard with his forehand and backhand.

"But I did not really give him chances to hit a lot."

Tsitsipas, who will turn 19 in August, played for the first time in the main draw after coming through qualifying.

The youngest male player in Paris this year is Australian 18-year-old Alex De Minaur.

No.16 seed Lucas Pouille was given a scare by fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau but prevailed after close to three-and-a-half hours 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4.

He will next face Thomaz Bellucci after the Brazilian recorded a 4-6 7-5 6-4 6-4 win over Dusan Lajovic.

Pablo Carreno Busta recorded an easy victory over Florian Mayer in just one hour and 36 minutes.

The Spanish No.20 seed defeated the German 6-4 6-2 6-2 and will play Taro Daniel in the second round after the Japanese eliminated Poland's Jerzy Janowicz 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Big-serving Gilles Muller was the biggest casualty on day one of the men's draw, with Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez prevailing 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 6-2 against the 26th seed.

Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo proved too consistent for Briton Daniel Evans to win 5-7 6-4 6-3 6-1, while Horacio Zeballos of Argentina beat locl hope Adrian Mannarino 7-5 6-3 6-4.

Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin accounted for American Tennys Sandgren 6-2 6-1 6-4 and Marco Trungelliti eliminated Quentin Halys 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-4.

The match between Yuichi Sugita and Steve Johnson was suspended at 3-6 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 4-2.

Source: AAP