Novak Djokovic’s bid for an historic Grand Slam enjoyed the perfect French Open start yesterday as Roger Federer celebrated his 50th straight major with a record-equalling 233rd Grand Slam win.
Top seed Djokovic, bidding to become only the third man to hold all four majors at the same time, and the first in 43 years, eased past Italian claycourt specialist Potito Starace 7-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Djokovic already has the Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open crowns under wraps and a first French Open triumph in two weeks’ time would make him the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete the sweep.
“Potito is a specialist on this surface but I played well considering it was the first match at this year’s Roland Garros,” said Djokovic, who won rousing applause for conducting his on-court interview in French.
Djokovic has yet to reach a Paris final, having fallen three times at the semi-final stage.
This year, he is scheduled to meet Federer in the last four.
Federer, the 2009 champion, en-dured few problems getting past Tomas Kamke 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.
The win, achieved on a sixth match-point, took him level with Jimmy Connors’s 30-year-old record of 233 Grand Slam match wins.
Victory was also his 50th against 12 losses at Roland Garros having made his debut as a wildcard in 1999 where he went down to Australia’s Pat Rafter in the first round.
Since that time, he has missed just one Grand Slam – the 1999 US Open where he failed to qualify.
“It’s a big record, because that was longevity. Jimmy is obviously one of the greats of all time, and was around for 20 years,” said 16-time Grand Slam title winner, who next faces Adrian Ungur, of Romania.
Earlier, Victoria Azarenka narrowly avoided becoming the first women’s top seed to lose in the first round in a dramatic start to the second day of action.
The Belarusian had to come from a set and 4-0 down to defeat Italian world number 105 Alberta Brianti 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 and will face German qualifier Dinah Pfizenmaier for a place in the last 32.
But for much of her rollercoaster 2hr 16min battle with 32-year-old Brianti, who had never won a match in four previous main draw appearances at Roland Garros, Azarenka struggled.
Brianti was on the verge of a 5-0 lead in the second set when Azarenka sent down a second serve ace to stay in contention, the point proving to be the significant moment in the tie.
Defending champion Li Na ad-vanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sorana Cirstea, a quarter-finalist in 2009.
Meanwhile, women’s 11th seed Vera Zvonareva withdrew from the tournament suffering from a right shoulder injury.