Nadal, Djokovic roll; Wawrinka ousted in Paris
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Paris, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Eight-time champion Rafael Nadal and former runner-up Novak Djokovic were a pair of easy first-round winners, while third-seeded Stan Wawrinka was a stunning loser Monday at the French Open.
The world No. 1 Nadal improved to an incredible 60-1 at Roland Garros by cruising past American journeyman Robby Ginepri 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 on Court Lenglen.
The reigning French and U.S. Open champion has won four straight and eight of the last nine French Open titles. He beat David Ferrer in last year's all- Spanish finale in Paris.
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Up next for Nadal will be rising Austrian Dominic Thiem.
The 2012 finalist Djokovic smacked 40 winners in blowing past Portuguese Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 on Court Chatrier. The struggling Sousa has now lost his last eight matches on tour.
The players were forced to stop and start because of wet conditions in Paris on Monday. Djokovic was leading 4-1 when rain halted play, but the match resumed about an hour later.
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The former No. 1 and six-time Grand Slam champ Djokovic lost to Nadal in the final two years ago and succumbed to the mighty Spaniard in an epic semifinal here last year, including a dramatic 9-7 fifth set.
Up next for Djokovic will be France's Jeremy Chardy.
Lanky Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez shocked the Swiss Australian Open champion Wawrinka in 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 fashion. It marked the first time in seven years that a third seed exited the French draw in the opening round since American Andy Roddick did so in 2007.
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The last man to win the Aussie Open and lose in the first round of the French Open was Petr Korda in 1998.
Also on Monday, Slovak and recent Munich clay court titlist Martin Klizan ousted ninth-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-2. The recent Madrid runner-up to Nadal, Nishikori, had been nursing a back injury in recent weeks.
Nishikori is the highest-ranked Japanese man in history, at No. 10 in the world, one spot lower than his career high.
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Fourteenth-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini eased past German Andreas Beck 6-4, 6-4, 6-1, while 17th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo, of Spain, came back to overcome Brit James Ward 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 and 18th-seeded Ernests Gulbis fought back to best Pole Lukasz Kubot 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-1. Gulbis is fresh off his clay title in Nice, his second title on French soil this season.
Meanwhile, 25th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic topped Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-0, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6); 26th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez defeated Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 7-6 (10-8), 6-3; 27th-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut doused Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 7-5, 6-2; 29th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon whipped Croat Ante Pavic 6-1, 6-1, 6-3; and Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili knocked out 30th-seeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
The first marathon of the fortnight saw Argentine Facundo Bagnis outlast Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 3-6, 18-16, including a 2-hour, 23- minute final set. Total match time was 4 hours, 26 minutes.
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Several other men reached the second round, including Thiem, American Donald Young, Frenchmen Kenny De Schepper, Benoit Paire and Adrian Mannarino, Spaniard Marcel Granollers, Austrian Jurgen Melzer, and Dutchman Robin Haase, who rolled past former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 6-4, 6-2. Thiem dismissed Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, while the left- handed Young edged out Israeli veteran Dudi Sela 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, 6-0.
The first round is scheduled to conclude Tuesday, including matches for a fifth-seeded Ferrer, seventh-seeded Andy Murray and 11th-seeded rising Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov. Ferrer will take on Dutchman Igor Sijsling, while the Wimbledon champion Murray will meet Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev and Dimitrov will tangle with 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic, who was a runner-up in Duesseldorf last week.