The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsAndy Murray is through to the second round at the French Open as the Brit finished strongly to overcome Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0. The world number one was inconsistent early on but improved as the match wore on, to successfully open his bid for a first Roland Garros title.
Even though he was not at his best, Murray was solid enough to grab the first set courtesy of some untimely errors from Kuznetsov. But the combination of the Russian’s blistering tennis and Murray suffering a dip in form allowed Kuznetsov to restore parity in the second set to draw level in the contest.
However, Murray eventually raised his level from that point on, recovering from the setback to dominate the following two sets. Kuznetsov had no response to his opponent’s improved display, as last year’s finalist secured a confidence boosting victory to book his place in the next round, where he will face Martin Klizan.
In the other men’s matches, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal notched comfortable wins, but the home favourite Gilles Simon and Jack Sock suffered defeats. Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev’s hopes of claiming his first major in Paris are over as the promising German was eliminated by Fernando Verdasco.
Kyle Edmund also joined Murray in the second round with a straight sets win over Gastao Elias, but there were disappointing exits for Dan Evans and Johanna Konta. Evans won the opening set but ultimately fell in four sets to the experienced Tommy Robredo. Johanna Konta had a promising start to her match against Hsieh Su–wei as the British number one easily clinched the first set, but her her opponent produced a high quality range of shot-making to turn the contest around. Even though Konta created opportunities to break back as Hsieh served for the win, the Brit couldn’t convert them as the Taiwanese player held on to record a 1-6 7-6 6-4 upset.
In the other matches in the women’s draw, Garbine Muguruza began the defence of her title with a win, as Simona Halep, Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina all progressed. However, top seed Angelique Kerber suffered a shock 6-2 6-2 loss to Ekaterina Makarova, while Petra Kvitova made an emotional return to the tour since the knife attack with a routine 6-3 6-2 win over Julia Boserup.
