FORMER champion Novak Djokovic reached the French Open third round for the 13th consecutive year by beating Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday, while women’s top seed Simona Halep battled to victory in her opening match.
Djokovic, the 2016 Roland Garros champion and former world number one, is seeded 20 this year after struggling to rediscover his best form after returning from a right elbow injury.
He wasn’t at his best on Court Suzanne Lenglen, but goes on to face Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the last 16.
The Serbian 12-time Grand Slam champion fired 39 winners but 33 unforced errors and was broken three times by Munar, the world 155.
“I am very happy to be here on Suzanne Lenglen and see so many people and see the support,” said Djokovic.
“Jaume is a great player, he has lots of quality and good concentration. I congratulate him on a great match today.” Bautista Agut, the 13th seed, saw off Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 7-5, 6-3, but Czech 17th seed Tomas Berdych lost a rain-interrupted first-round match to home hope Jeremy Chardy on the showpiece Court Philippe Chatrier 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (10/8), 1-6, 5-7, 6-2.
LUCKY LOSER’S LUCK RUNS OUT
Marco Trungelliti’s long, strange trip as a French Open “lucky loser” has come to an end with a second-round exit.
Trungelliti is the 190th-ranked Argentine who headed home to Barcelona after losing in qualifying at Roland Garros, then drew headlines for making the 10-hour, 1,000-kilometer drive back to Paris in a rental car with his 88-year-old grandmother, mother and brother once he found out he could get into the main draw.
He then won his first-round match defeating Australia’s Bernard Tomic.
But Trungelliti was beaten Wednesday by 72nd-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-1 in a match that lasted just under 2 hours. Still, Trungelliti leaves with 79,000 euros (about $ 120,000) in prize money – and a great story to tell.
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