The young Federer sisters were in the stands watching daddy win his opening match at the French Open, and the Williams sisters were on separate courts Sunday ensuring their own progress.
Roger Federer had little trouble beating Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. As soon as he finished, Serena Williams took over on Court Philippe Chatrier, the main stadium at Roland Garros, and beat Alize Lim 6-2, 6-1.
Over on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Venus Williams was also playing, and winning. The older Williams sibling defeated Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-1.
Serena, the defending champion, could meet Venus in the third round if both get through their next matches.
The French Open is only Federer’s third clay-court tournament this season. He reached the final in Monte Carlo but missed the Madrid tournament when his second set of twins, boys Leo and Lenny, was born.
On Sunday, with the clay court hard and damp due to days of rain and overcast skies, fourth-seeded Federer was back to himself, winning five of his 11 break points.
Federer’s twin girls, Myla Rose and Charlene Riva, will turn 5 in July. They were sitting in Federer’s box along with his wife Mirka at the start.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament to start on Sunday, and Federer played the second match on center court.
“I wasn’t nervous, actually, going into the match. It’s more just like those hints of fear, maybe yesterday, maybe this morning at one point, just for like five seconds, ‘Oh, I really hope I don’t have to pack my bags today,’ that kind of feeling,” Federer said.
Eighth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada also advanced, beating Nick Kyrgios of Australia 6-2, 7-6(1), 6-3.
Raonic is the youngest man in the top 10 of the tennis rankings, and Kyrgios was the youngest man in this year’s French Open draw at 19.
Other men’s winners included No. 6 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic. Serena Williams dictated most points in her match against Lim, a wild-card entry from France.
Top-seeded Serena is a 17-time major champion who was facing a woman making her Grand Slam debut. Still, there was a bit of shakiness from the 32-year-old American as she served out the final game, erasing four break points and needing five match points to close things.
With the victory, Serena improved to 54-1 in first-round matches at majors. The only loss came at the 2012 French Open against 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano.
Also, Agnieszka Radwanska was able to reach the second round once she got a handle on her serve.
Radwanska and Zhang Shuai traded breaks in the opening seven games of their match, but the third-seeded Pole finally held and won the final nine games to become the first player to reach the second round, winning 6-3, 6-0.
“So many breaks in a row,” said Radwanska, who blamed her struggles on the wet court.
No. 14 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and 31 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia also advanced.
Devvarman out Somdev Devvarman failed to cross the first round hurdle as he waged a tough fight before losing 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 to Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
THE RESULTS
Men: Singles: First round: 4-Roger Federer bt Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; 6-Tomas Berdych bt Peter Polansky 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 8-Milos Raonic bt Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 7-6(1), 6-3; 15-Mikhail Youzhny bt Pablo Carreno Busta 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-0; Radek Stepanek bt Facundo Arguello 6-7(8), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; Aleksandr Nedovyesov bt Somdev Devvarman 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3; Jarkko Nieminen bt Michal Przysiezny 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4; Diego Sebastian Schwartzman bt Gastao Elias 6-4, 6-2, 7-5; 22-Jerzy Janowicz bt Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4, 31-Dimitry Tursunov bt Potito Starace 6-1, 7-5, 6-2; 10-John Isner bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 7-5.
Women: First round: Ajla Tomljanovic bt Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-3; Garbiue Muguruza bt Grace Min 7-5, 7-6(6); Yvonne Meusburger bt Amandine Hesse 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 8-Angelique Kerber bt Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-1.
1-Serena Williams bt Alize Lim (Fra) 6-2, 6-1; 3-Agnieszka Radwanska bt Shuai Zhang 6-3, 6-0; 31-Daniela Hantuchova bt Jovana Jaksic 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; Anna Schmiedlova bt Jie Zheng 6-2(2), 6-3, 6-4; 29-Venus Williams bt Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-1; 14-Carla Suarez Navarro bt Yulia Beygelzimer 7-5, 7-5; Claire Feuerstein bt Olga Govortsova 6-1, 7-5; Monica Niculescu bt 25-Kaia Kanepi 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
