Djokovic makes winning start on Agassi’s watch

PARIS: Defending champion Novak Djokovic enjoyed a winning French Open start under new coach Andre Agassi on Monday, cruising past Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3 6-4 6-2 in the first round.

The 30-year-old Serbian, without a tour title since January, found little resistance from Granollers, grabbing two breaks early on in the first set as he chased the 77th-ranked Spaniard around the court.

With Agassi, sporting a black t-shirt and sunglasses, quietly sitting in the stands along with the Serb’s entourage, it was a similar story early in the second set with the world number two returning everything Granollers tried to throw at him.

He again went 4-1 up before a wobble saw him fail to convert eight set points at 5-3.

Djokovic kept his cool to earn the second set and pounced on the Spaniard’s accumulating mistakes in the third set to seal victory on his first match point.

With Agassi making a fast exit from the stands at the conclusion of the match, Djokovic heaped praise on his new coach. “It is an incredible honour and good luck to have him with me on the team,” Djokovic said.

“Every day is special with him. I am learning something every day. I changed everyone (coaches). But I will not change my wife. My wife never.”

Rafael Nadal launched his quest for a record 10th French Open title with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 win over Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Nadal, who was forced to withdraw before last year’s third round with a wrist injury, broke Paire eight times to brush aside the world number 45 in less than two hours.

“I’m very happy to be back here after what happened last year. It’s great to feel the support,” said the 14-time major champion.

Nadal dominated the opening set, then recovered from a slight second-set wobble when he dropped serve twice in a row to surge into a round two meeting with Dutchman Robin Haase.

The Spaniard, whose last Grand Slam triumph came at Roland Garros in 2014, improved his incredible French Open record to 73 wins and just two losses.

Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic raced into round two with a routine 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Steve Darcis of Belgium.

Raonic, whose best run at the French Open came when he made the 2014 quarter-finals, fired 15 aces and 44 winners to book a meeting with Mikhail Youzhny of Russia or Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva.

Meanwhile, reigning French Open women’s champion Garbine Muguruza breezed into the second round after dispatching Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-4.

The fourth seed will meet Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit for a place in round three as Schiavone, who turns 37 in June, bid farewell to the tournament for the final time ahead of her retirement at the end of the year.

Big-hitting Australian teenager Jaimee Fourlis served up a major scare for Caroline Wozniacki, making light of the 300-plus ranking places separating them to push the 11th-seeded Dane to three sets.

Wozniacki, who appeared to be carrying the after-effects of a lower back injury that forced her to retire during last week’s Strasbourg tournament, pulled away towards the end of a testy encounter, winning 6-4 3-6 6-2 in just over two hours.

Wildcard Fourlis, aged 17 and at 337 the lowest-ranked player in the main draw, was the stronger for much of the first two sets, keeping Wozniacki pinned at the back of the court with blistering drives off both wings.

But the Dane showed her greater experience at key moments, winning both her breaks points in the opening set while the Australian converted just one out of five.

Leading 4-1 in the second set, the Australian lost some of her focus after disputing a line call that went against her, dropping that game and the next.

She recovered to break Wozniacki again before serving out to love to take the set. But as Fourlis began to take issue with other calls, the Dane took control in the third.