Federer, Serena win opening matches at French Open

USA's Serena Williams returns the ball to Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 24, 2010.


PARIS, May 24 -- Top seeds Roger Federer and Serena Williams both overcame their first round opponents at the French Open on Monday.

The fourth-seeded British talent Andy Murray was dragged into a marathon fight against French Richard Gasquet, battling back from two sets down to outplayed the home player.

The men's defending champion Federer advanced quite comfortably while the women's world No. 1 Williams struggled for a while to find her pace.

Federer, 28, met little trouble before defeating Australian Peter Luczak 6-4, 6-1 and 6-2. The Swiss world No 1 will play Alejandro Falla from Colombia in the next round.

"It was like a perfect match to get off the French Open campaign," Federer summed up. Although the reigning champion thought it was a bit slippery on today's Philippe Chatrier court, but he didn't have many problems with his footwork.

"Just as I said before, the more I play on clay, the more natural it is to me," said Federer, who have claimed a record of 15 Grand Slam champion titles, but there was only one from Roland Garros.

After Federer's easy win, Williams suffered a lot in the same court while against Federer's compatriot Stefanie Voegele.

The American star couldn't take the first set until the tie break, but finally got her rhythm by winning the second set in 6-2.

"I definitely didn't feel good about it. At least I won. I think I'm still in the tournament; that's what matters," said the 12-time Grand Slam winner.

Williams said she had no idea about her below-par performance on Monday. "I was practicing so well, and I'm doing so well in practice, and it just didn't work for me today. So with that being said, I'm happy to win and just go on to the next round."

Williams is going to play Julia Goerges in the second round. The 21-year-old German beat Hungarian Melinda Czink in straight sets in her first French Open match.

Murray got through a much more thrilling encounter than Williams as the men's world No. 4 lost the opening two sets to Gasquet in 6-4 and 7-5 (5).

Murray's frustration was obvious as the 23-year-old couldn't stop grimacing or shouting angrily to himself. However, the Australian Open runnerup didn't show a sign of giving up, trying hard for every strike.

Gasquet came to Roland Garros with a title claimed from Nice but only one day to recuperate. When the world No. 75 became tired, Murray found his winning sharpness.

The British fought back to claim victory in the following three sets in 6-4, 6-2 and 6-1, finally wrapped up after four hours and four minutes.

In the same day, all the women's seeds advanced into the second round but two Spanish men's seeds Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez were knocked out of the first round.

USA's Serena Williams returns the ball to Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 24, 2010.

Switzerland's Roger Federer returns the ball to Australia's Peter Luczak during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 24, 2010.

Switzerland's Roger Federer returns the ball to Australia's Peter Luczak during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 24, 2010.
(Xinhua)