PARIS (Reuters) – Highlights of the second day at the French Open on Monday (times GMT):
1754 ALCARAZ SWATS ASIDE QUALIFIER COBOLLI
Carlos Alcaraz mowed down Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli 6-0 6-2 7-5 to reach the Roland Garros second round in his first Grand Slam match since winning the U.S. Open last year.
1732 GARCIA SEES OFF WANG
Home favourite Caroline Garcia, the fifth seed, battled her way into the second round with a gritty 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-4 win over Wang Xiyu. She next faces Anna Blinkova of Russia.
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1525 AVANESYAN OUSTS BENCIC
Lucky loser Elina Avanesyan of Russia, ranked 134th in the world, upset 12th seed Belinda Bencic 6-3 2-6 6-4 to earn her main draw Grand Slam win and reach the second round.
1420 DJOKOVIC CRUISES PAST KOVACEVIC
World number three Novak Djokovic began his quest for a record-breaking 23rd men’s Grand Slam singles title after sweeping past American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3 6-2 7-6(1) in the opening round.
1332 FOGNINI UPSETS AUGER-ALIASSIME
Veteran Fabio Fognini of Italy rolled back the years to take down 10th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-4 6-3 in the first round as the Canadian became the first top-10 player in the men’s draw to exit the tournament.
1305 NORRIE, SHAPOVALOV SURVIVE FIVE-SETTERS
Britain’s Cameron Norrie, the 14th seed, outlasted home favourite Benoit Paire in front of a raucous French crowd, coming back from 4-2 down in the deciding set to prevail 7-5 4-6 4-6 6-1 6-4 and reach the second round.
Canadian 26th seed Denis Shapovalov overcame American Brandon Nakashima 6-4 7-5 4-6 3-6 6-3 in a roller-coaster match.
1128 STEPHENS OUSTS PLISKOVA
Sloane Stephens, the 2018 finalist, reached the second round with an emphatic 6-0 6-4 victory over Karolina Pliskova as the former world number one crashed out following an error-strewn performance.
Earlier, Australian Open quarter-finalist Donna Vekic beat Ukrainian qualifier Daria Yastremska in 6-2 7-5 and 20th seed Madison Keys saw off Estonian Kaia Kanepi in three sets.
0910 PLAY UNDER WAY
Play began under sunny skies at Roland Garros, with the temperature hovering around 20 degrees Celsius.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru and Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; editing by Ed Osmond)
