Roger Federer moved into the second round of the French Open by beating Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Monday.
The third-seeded Federer, who won the tournament at Roland Garros in 2009 to complete a career Grand Slam, lost in the quarterfinals last year to end a streak of 23 straight major semifinal appearances.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion has won only one tournament so far this year, and that came in the first event of the year in Doha, Qatar.
Djokovic through
Second seed Novak Djokovic started his French Open with a solid victory as the Serb extended his 2011 win streak to 38 matches with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Thiemo De Bakker on Monday.
The Serb, who turned 24 on Sunday and skipped the birthday cake in deference to the no-gluten fitness plan which has helped him in his phenomenal run of form, has not lost since last November in London to Roger Federer.
With the addition of two Davis Cup victories in the December final, his overall unbeaten runs stands at 40 matches.
He owns seven titles since January and has beaten number one Rafael Nadal in three Master 1000 finals in three months.
Djokovic improved his Roland Garros record to 22-6 as he hopes to become the first man since Jim Courier in 1992 to win back-to-back titles at the Australian Open and Paris. He went through in 92 minutes with 25 winners and six breaks of the Dutchman.
Two more seeds joined in with wins as number 12 Russian Mikhail Youzhny stopped Go Soeda of Japan 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 and 15th-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki prevailed over German Julian Reister 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
Schiavone advances
Women’s holder Francesca Schiavone began her title defence with a resounding 6-2, 6-0 victory over teenaged American Melanie Oudin as the Italian stretched her personal Grand Slam streak.
Schiavone is playing in her 43rd consecutive major, a run which began at the 2000 U.S. Open, giving her (along with American Jill Craybas) the longest uninterrupted stretch in the women’s game.
Italian Sara Errani followed her countrywoman’s template as she put out American Christina McHale 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 9-7.
