Roger Federer marked his return to the Grand Slam arena in dazzling fashion with a 6-2 6-4 6-3 first-round defeat of qualifier Denis Istomin at the French Open on Monday. The 39-year-old Swiss had not played a Grand Slam match since the 2020 Australian Open and had managed only one claycourt match in the build-up to Roland Garros. Swiss Federer, tied with Rafa Nadal on 20 Grand Slam titles, missed last year’s French Open because of a knee injury and is appearing at Roland Garros for only the second time since 2015. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev returns the ball to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik during their men’s singles first-round match at the French Open at Roland Garros. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty ImagesSecond seed Daniil Medvedev beat Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-3 6-3 7-5 in an entertaining clash to finally win his first match at Roland Garros on his fifth attempt.

Source: The Irish Times May 31, 2021 16:41 UTC