tennis

The five-time former champion in the ATP 500 event here needed just 64 minutes to seal the victory in his first grass court match since 2018 Eastbourne. Murray will face world No.9 and the top seed Matteo Berrettini in the second round, after the Italian powered past countryman Stefano Travaglia 7-6(5), 7-6(4).

World No. 3 Rafael Nadal, whose unbeaten streak at French Open spread over last six years was broken in Friday's semi-finals, said world No. 1 Novak Djokovic got used to cooler Paris conditions at night better even as he himself could not produce the top level tennis expected of him.

After his nerve-wracking win over Germany's Alexander Zverev in French Open semi-finals on Friday, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece said that his dream always was to play on the big stage, and that he was happy to see compatriot Maria Sakkari doing so well at Roland Garros.

In the late-evening match on Saturday, which went past midnight, saw the eighth seed and winner of 20 singles Grand Slam titles stage a remarkable recovery from 2-4 down in the third set to finally winning the contest in three hours and 39 minutes. Federer advanced to the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the 68th time to extend his all-time record for most Round-of-16 appearances at the Grand Slams.

"I've worked hard on my fitness and my game the past few weeks, so I feel like it's obviously improving. Of course, the more matches that I'm playing, the more confidence I'm getting. I'm happy that it's clicking during (the) French Open. I'm not going to complain about that," said Sofia after her 4-6, 6-1 6-4 win over Jessica.

Yana, 26 and partnering compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova, had lost the women's doubles first-round match on Thursday to the Australian pair Ajla Tomljanovic and Storm Sanders 1-6, 1 -6. The Guardian newspaper reported that the 101st ranked doubles player was arrested while she was leaving a massage session after her match. Yana's hotel room was also searched before her arrest.

The 25-year-old Italian, who recorded his 20th win this year and entered the third round at Roland Garros for the third time, won 82 per cent of his points on first serve and also won 81 per cent of his net points. Berrettini will face Korean Kwoon Soon-Woo who beat Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. The Korean won 75 per cent of his first service points and converted four break points.

Serena, winner of three French Open titles with the last coming in 2015, won 75 per cent of the points on her first serve and said afterwards, "I felt it was pretty good today. I've been practicing my serve a lot. I've been playing in practice unbelievable on my serve. The other night (first-round match against Romania's Irina Begu) was, wow. I'm glad it came better today.

Danielle, a French Open quarter-finalist last year, dropped just two games against Ukrainian qualifier Anhelina Kalinina, 6-0, 6-2, to halt the qualifier's 14-match winning run. Spain's world No. 35 Paula Badosa joined the American duo in the third round after beating Montenegro's Danka Kovinic, 6-2, 6-0 in just 52 minutes.

Federer notched a comfortable victory, as the 20-time Grand Slam winner beat another German player Oscar Otte 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday, Xinhua reported. Earlier in the day, Nadal eased past Germany's Yannick Maden 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, setting up a third round clash with No. 27 seed David Goffin.