Dimitrov among French Open seeds to win

Grigor Dimitrov, Albert Ramos, Pablo Carreno Busta and Ivo Karlovic were among then seeded players to progress to the French Open second round on Sunday.

Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov

Grigor Dimitrov has won his first match in four years at the French Open to reach the second round. (AAP)

Grigor Dimitrov has won his first match in four years at the French Open to reach the second round of the clay-court major.

Bulgarian Dimitrov made light work of veteran Frenchman Stephane Robert to win 6-2 6-3 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"It was a good test," 11th-seed Dimitrov said. "I knew what to expect, I just had to fight."

Spain's Albert Ramos, the 19th seed, has fought back from a set down to defeat Romanian Marius Copil 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 6-4 6-2.

His reward is a match-up with Benjamin Bonzi, after the Frenchman's opponent Daniil Medvedev retired with the score at 5-7 6-4 6-1 3-1.

The oldest man in the singles draw at Roland Garros has prevailed over one of the youngest.

Ivo Karlovic, 28, who is also known for his big serve and 6-foot-11 (2.11-metre) stature, advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 6-4 win over Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas.

"I did not know anything about him, so was trying to look around a little bit on the Internet," Karlovic said.

"I did not really know what to expect and he can hit really hard with his forehand and backhand.

"But I did not really give him chances to hit a lot."

Tsitsipas, who will turn 19 in August, played for the first time in the main draw after coming through qualifying.

The youngest male player in Paris this year is Australian 18-year-old Alex De Minaur.

No.16 seed Lucas Pouille was given a scare by fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau but prevailed after close to three-and-a-half hours 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4.

He will next face Thomaz Bellucci after the Brazilian recorded a 4-6 7-5 6-4 6-4 win over Dusan Lajovic.

Pablo Carreno Busta recorded an easy victory over Florian Mayer in just one hour and 36 minutes.

The Spanish No.20 seed defeated the German 6-4 6-2 6-2 and will play Taro Daniel in the second round after the Japanese eliminated Poland's Jerzy Janowicz 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Big-serving Gilles Muller was the biggest casualty on day one of the men's draw, with Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez prevailing 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 6-2 against the 26th seed.

Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo proved too consistent for Briton Daniel Evans to win 5-7 6-4 6-3 6-1, while Horacio Zeballos of Argentina beat locl hope Adrian Mannarino 7-5 6-3 6-4.

Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin accounted for American Tennys Sandgren 6-2 6-1 6-4 and Marco Trungelliti eliminated Quentin Halys 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-4.

The match between Yuichi Sugita and Steve Johnson was suspended at 3-6 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 4-2.


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Source: AAP



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