Roger Federer cleared the first hurdle in his campaign to finally land the only Grand Slam title missing from his collection at the French Open on Monday.
World number one Federer, still missing a Roland Garros title among his 12 Grand Slam trophies, saw off world number 40 Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in his first-round match.
Federer (26) has finished runner-up for the past two years to three-time champion Rafael Nadal of Spain, who has beaten the Swiss in eight of their nine meetings on clay.
But after a slow start to the season by his standards the top seed admitted he was relieved to get a win under his belt against a potentially tricky opponent as he heads into his 10th French Open campaign.
”I got through with my first round, which is sometimes a difficult match in a tournament. So that’s out of the way.
”The first round of the Slams, there’s always a lot of pressure,” said Federer, who needs a Roland Garros title to become just the sixth man to clinch a career Grand Slam.
”That’s why it’s sort of a nerve-racking first set. Once I got settled I played a little bit better.
”It gives me a few days now again to practice, and hopefully I can play a bit better the next match.”
Despite a win on clay at Estoril and runner-up spots at Monte Carlo and Hamburg, Federer arrived in Roland Garros with seven defeats this year.
But he remains confident of his clay form.
”I’ve played well all clay-court season long. I didn’t have many hiccups really, and I have plenty of matches. That was my goal as well. By playing Estoril, I was hoping to get that before Paris.
”Now it’s just a matter of sort of getting used to the conditions. Practice is one thing, but getting through the matches is the other thing.”
He next meets either Spain’s Albert Montanes or close friend Kristof Vliegen of Belgium for a third-round spot.
Meanwhile, Venus Williams dropped a set but recovered to reach the second round of the French Open with a 6-3 4-6 6-2 victory over Israel’s Tzipora Obziler on Monday.
Obziler, at 35 the oldest woman in the tournament, fought with an energy belying her years against the eighth-seeded American.
”I knew she was going to bring a lot of balls back and try to play aggressive when she could,” Williams, who has won six Grand Slam titles, told a news conference.
However, she said the outcome of the first-round match, which lasted two hours and three minutes, was never in doubt. — AFP, Reuters