Advances to 2nd round on rainy day, Djokovic cruises as Nishikori crashes out
Maria Sharapova took advantage of a break in the rain — and several breaks of her opponent’s serve — to win her opening match at the French Open on Monday.
Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova successfully dealt with the wet weather and their opponents Monday at the French Open. Both former No. 1 players advanced to the second round at Roland Garros, playing through rain and rain delays.
Djokovic beat Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 despite being broken three times, including while serving for the match for the first time. The second-seeded Serb was leading 4-1 when rain halted play on Court Philippe Chatrier, but it restarted about an hour later.
In the second set, a short shower stopped play for only a few minutes. Djokovic, wearing a white rain jacket, used the time to entertain the crowd by chatting with a ball boy and letting the youngster sit alongside him on the bench.
At one point, Djokovic grabbed the umbrella out of the ball boy’s hand and in return gave him a racket. Then Djokovic handed him a bottle of Perrier, and the two clinked bottles before taking a sip.
Djokovic can complete a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open. Sharapova, the 2012 champion, was first on court in the main stadium and needed little more than an hour to beat Ksenia Pervak 6-1, 6-2.
“It’s always nice to get out there on a day like this. It’s good to play first match, as you know,” Sharapova said. “Hopefully you’ll be able to finish the match today with the weather conditions being as they are. It’s always nice to get through.”
Sharapova broke Pervak five times and finished with 17 winners, while Pervak had only four. Sharapova, seeded seventh at the French Open, completed a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros two years ago. She then lost to Serena Williams in the 2013 final.
Up next in Paris will be Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in the second round. But she could face Williams in the quarterfinals.
“It’s tough to think about that match down the line where you have to compete in three matches before that,” Sharapova said. “Obviously it’s a match that many people always look forward to when we play against each other.”
Monday’s match started about 1 hour, 20 minutes late because of the wet weather. The forecast calls for more rain Monday, and for the rest of the week. Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia also advanced, beating Virginie Razzano of France 7-5, 6-0.
Other winners include No. 12 Flavia Pennetta of Italy, No. 16 Sabine lisicki of Germany and No. 18 Eugenie Bouchard of Canada. Still not fully recovered from injury, ninth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan lost 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-2 to 59th-ranked Martin Klizan of Slovakia in the first round.
A year ago, Nishikori became the first Japanese man in 75 years to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros, before losing at that stage to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. This month, Nishikori became the first player from his country to be ranked in the ATP’s top 10.
But he entered the clay-court Grand Slam tournament dealing with a problematic lower left back and said over the weekend he wasn’t fully recovered despite taking time off tour to head home to Florida for treatment.
Nishikori is the first player seeded in the top 10 to lose at the French Open. “Really disappointed,” said Nishikori, who has been getting coaching help from 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang.
“I mean, I didn’t have much practice. So, you know, I knew this is going to happen,”Nishikori added Monday. “I was playing well on clay in Europe, so it’s very sad for me to lose first round here.”
The 24-year-old Nishikori was forced to pull out of the final of the clay-court Madrid Open against Nadal on May 11 because of his injury, ending a 14-match winning streak that included a title on clay at the Barcelona Open.
“First time playing points after Madrid, so I didn’t have much rhythm,” Nishikori said after losing to the left-handed Klizan. “And also serve — I didn’t hit any serve 100 percent before today.”
Nishikori already has dealt with a series of health issues during his professional career, including right elbow surgery in 2009 and an abdominal injury that forced him to skip the 2012 French Open.
“It’s tough for me, but I guess this is my tennis life, you know. I have to take care of my body and injury will come again, for sure. So I have to mentally be ready,” he said. “I have to do whatever I can do to get healthy.”
Monday’s victory was only the second of Klizan’s career against a top-10 player. “I just saw a little bit, sometimes, he was touching (his) back when he was serving,” said Klizan, the 2006 French Open boys’ champion. “I think in the rallies he played very solid tennis.”