World No1 Andy Murray was hoping to avoid the same fate as the women’s No1 when he began his campaign as the top seed at Roland Garros for the first time.
On the very first day of the tournament, Angelique Kerber became the first top seed in the Open Era to lose in the first round here. Only one top seed in the men’s draw has lost his opener at the French Open since seedings were introduced in 1925, and that was Stefan Edberg in 1990.
It so happened that the No2 seed that year also lost in the first round: Boris Becker. This year, Becker’s former charge and No2 seed Novak Djokovic, had already jumped his first hurdle by the time Murray took on the No73-ranked Andrey Kuznetsov.
The 26-year-old Russian was not expected to pose a huge problem for Murray, who last year became only the third British man ever to reach the Roland Garros final. Indeed, for a man who acclimatised to clay relatively late in his career—Murray did not even reach the final of a clay tournament until 2015—his record at the French Open has been outstanding.
Two quarter-finals, three further semi-finals and a runner-up finish in his last seven appearances testify to improvement over the years, and this time 12 months ago, he arrived here having reached the final in Madrid and with the Rome title.
With his run in Paris, Murray was about to embark on the best season of his career, and he would lose just three more matches, one of them that French final, before sweeping to titles at Queen’s, Wimbledon, the Olympics, Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna, Paris and the World Tour Finals. It all earned him the No1 ranking.
This year, though, the picture looked rather different. His fourth-round loss at the Australian Open looked like a mere blip in proceedings, having reached the Doha final before then winning in Dubai. And it could be explained away by the revelation that he had contracted shingles after Melbourne.
But come Indian Wells, Murray lost his opener against Vasek Pospisil, ranked 129, and then missed the Miami Masters due to an elbow injury.
Even so, his loss to Albert Ramos-Vinolas in Monte-Carlo was unexpected, and in Madrid, and then Rome, it was the nature of his losses—for just one win through the fortnight—that surprised. He seemed to lack energy and focus, and his comments to the BBC after the Rome loss to Fabio Fognini were an unusual admission.
“I’m just not playing good tennis and need to try to work out how to turn it around. I believe I will. The last couple of weeks have definitely been a struggle and a long way from where I’d like to be. There is no reason for it from my end.”
As if to rub salt into the wound, the world No1’s preparation for the French Open this week was hindered by another health issue—sickness followed by a cough.
Not that it prevented him playing numerous and intensive practice sessions.
Murray had, though, beaten the Russian in both previous matches, and Kuznetsov had lost in the first round of no fewer than seven tournaments on the hard courts this year. But come clay, he had started to put together some wins, and reached the quarters in Budapest and semis in Geneva last week.
He appeared, too, to have Murray in trouble right at the start, 0-40 down on serve, but Murray held courtesy of what would become many drop shots scattered through the match. They stayed on level peggings until the sixth game, a break for Murray, who consolidated with a love hold, 5-2.
Kuznetsov was starting to find the pace of the court and pulled off some flashy forehands to break back. The Briton’s response? Some sarcastic applause to his box. But he refocused, outplayed Kuznetsov in a couple of baseline exchanges, and broke again for the set, 6-4.
The sarcasm returned in the second set, following an immediate break, but once again Murray broke straight back to love. Amid some routine rallies there were also some gems. A drop pick-up followed by a volleyed lob brought deuce in the fourth game, and a similar point worked break point in the fifth. Kuznetsov converted, held, and broke again.
Murray pulled one of the breaks back, but two stunning forehand winners sealed the set for the Russian, 6-4.
Kuznetsov attempted a Murray-esque point at the start of the third set, but Murray chased down a lob, and the Russian smashed the return into the net. It heralded a quick break, and with two hours on the clock, Murray broke again for the set, 6-2.
Murray was now free to play his way, a touch winner here, a backhand winner there, and often, Kuznetsov could only look on. Again, there were some crowd-pleasing points, and chants of “Andy” began to ring around the arena. With a final flourish, the Briton slammed a forehand winner on match point, one final break, 6-0, and it brought Philipp Chatrier to its feet.
Murray afterwards admitted to the crowd that he had fond memories of Paris, not just his final run here last year, but rising to No1 with the title at the Paris-Bercy Masters in November. It seems, too, that Roland Garros has also taken Murray to its heart.
Looking ahead, Murray will play another man who can turn on the fire-power on his day. No50 ranked Martin Klizan took Murray to three sets in Vienna last year, but came through a tense five-setter against French wild card Laurent Lokoli that lasted 3hrs 39mins: Murray will certainly be favourite to come through and could then face the No29 seed, Juan Martin del Potro—though the Argentine first has to play Nicolas Almagro.
Deeper into this quarter, Murray may cross paths with No13 Tomas Berdych and No8 Kei Nishikori, but No9 seed Alexander Zverev lost to Fernando Verdasco and the No27 seed Sam Querrey also went out.
There were also straight-sets wins for Nick Kyrgios, Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils in the other half Murray’s draw.
However, Murray was not the only Briton to score an opening win. Kyle Edmund, ranked No49, was in action against the 108-ranked Portuguese Gastao Elias, a man he beat only two months ago at Indian Wells for the loss of just four games.
Elias had also suffered multiple opening-round losses through the season, though his last event in Lyon last week saw him beat del Potro on his way to the quarter-finals. But he was no match for Edmund, who raced out of the blocks to take a 5-1 lead, and despite Elias pulling one break back, he took the opening set, 6-3.
With little more than an hour on the clock, Edmund had the second set as well, 6-2. The third set was a much tighter affair, with an exchange of breaks as they headed to what looked like a tie-break conclusion. But Edmund broke, and then served out the win, 7-5, with a signature forehand winner.
He next plays Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Renzo Olivo, with a possible Kyrgios showdown his reward in the third round.