Zverev in cruise control as French Open starts under blazing sun; tearful Kostyuk reaches second round

French Open dark horse Alexander Zverev started his Roland Garros campaign with a meticulous ​6-3 6-4 6-2 first-round demolition of France’s Benjamin Bonzi in searing heat on Sunday.

The ‌2024 runner-up and three-times semi-finalist, ‌who is chasing his maiden Grand Slam title, never allowed the world number 95 into the contest on court Philippe Chatrier as he set up a second-round meeting with Tomas Machac of the Czech ‌Republic.

“Very good start to the tournament, it’s always good to start with a win in straight sets especially against Benjamin who can be a tricky opponent,” the German second seed said. The tournament started under blazing sun as fans in Panama hats streamed into Roland Garros, which felt more like the Riviera than claycourt grind as alleys echoed with a violin rendition of Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” and other soft-rock staples.

With temperatures expected to exceed 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), Russian ​Karen Khachanov, seeded 13, dispatched French hope Arthur Gea on Court Suzanne Lenglen before ‌11th seed Swiss Belinda Bencic downed Sinja Kraus of Austria.

The claycourt Grand Slam suffered two major withdrawals as twice champion Carlos Alcaraz and local favourite Arthur Fils pulled out due to injuries.

Italian Jannik Sinner, the world number one, is the heavy favourite in the men’s draw, while the women’s draw seems wide open.

Serbian Novak Djokovic, chasing a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title, opens his campaign against big-serving ​Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi ‌Perricard later on Sunday.

Eighth seed Mirra Andreeva dished out a barrage of baseline winners as ‌she made light work of France’s Fiona Ferro 6-3 6-3 to advance to the second round.

The 19-year-old Russian was never in trouble on a sun-drenched court Philippe Chatrier and sealed victory on her first match ‌point when Ferro ‌made her 24th unforced error. Hours after a Russian missile landed near her family home in Kyiv in Ukraine,

Meanwhile, Marta Kostyuk’s first-round win at the French Open became one of her toughest matches after she found out beforehand that a missile almost hit her parents’ home in Ukraine.

Kostyuk fought back tears after beating Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-2, 6-3 on Court Simonne-Mathieu on the opening day of the clay-court Grand Slam at Roland Garros in western Paris.

“I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my career,” the 15th-seeded Kostyuk said. “This morning, 100 meters away from my parents’ house, the missile destroyed the building and it was a very difficult morning for me ... I didn’t know how I would handle it, I’ve been crying part of the morning.”

She received a message at 8 a.m. and could not stop thinking what could have happened.

“I felt sick,” she said. “If it was 100 meters closer, I probably wouldn’t have a mom and a sister today.”

Her mother, sister and great aunt - were in the house at the time of the strike, she said, among 17 people in total, so her relief was enormous that no one was injured.

“I don’t want to think what I would do if something worse happened, but I knew that this is the day to go out and play,” she said. “It didn’t cross my mind today that I shouldn’t go out, because, you know, at the end of the day, everyone is alive.”

After the match, she thanked fans and received an ovation. Then she explained how she found the emotional and mental resources to play.

“I think it’s important to keep going. My biggest example is Ukrainian people, I woke up in the morning today and,” the 23-year-old Kostyuk said, becoming tearful before repeating and finishing the sentence.

“I looked at all these people who woke up and kept living their life, kept helping people who are in need,” she said. “I knew a lot of Ukrainian flags would be here today and a lot of Ukrainian people would come out, support. My friends from Ukraine came as well.”

Agencies