Paris: Maria Sharapova reached the French Open second round on Monday at a damp and chilly Roland Garros as Japanese hope Kei Nishikori became the tournament’s first major casualty. Sharapova, seeded seven and the 2012 champion, needed just over an hour to beat fellow Russian, Ksenia Pervak, the world’s 156th-ranked player, 6-1, 6-2.
The 27-year-old, who lost last year’s final to Serena Williams, looked comfortable under the cloudy conditions on the Philippe Chatrier court, breaking her opponent five times. Sharapova will next face Bulgaria’s 2010 Wimbledon semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova. Japanese ninth seed Nishikori was left feeling as misrable as the Paris weather as he crashed out in the first round, clearly still suffering from his recent back injury.
But on Monday, there was never any sign that he would repeat that feat as he went down 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-2 to Slovakia’s Martin Klizan. Nishikori won the Barcelona claycourt title last month but then had to quit the Madrid Masters final against Rafael Nadal with a back injury that also forced him out of the Rome Masters.
Serbia’s second seed Novak Djokovic opened his bid for a maiden French Open title on Monday with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 first round win over Joao Sousa. The six-time Grand Slam winner is only missing the Roland Garros title to complete his set of all four majors and began in style with a confident showing on the Philippe Chatrier centre court.
