PARIS (Dispatches) - Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas has overcame a sluggish start to reach the second round of the French Open with a 7-6(6) 6-3 6-1 victory over France’s Jeremy Chardy.
The fifth seed, who extended his winning run on clay to five matches after clinching the title in Lyon last week, was in trouble in the opening set in an empty court Philippe Chatrier after spectators were sent home under a 9 pm local time curfew before making his superiority count.
Tsitsipas, who lost to 13-times Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal in the final in Barcelona, steamrolled past a helpless Chardy in the other two sets.
He ended Chardy’s challenge after just over two hours with a forehand winner for a no-nonsense victory.
He will next face either American Sebastian Korda or Spain’s Pedro Martinez.

Osaka Fined $15,000 After Win, Warned of Expulsion

Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 by Grand Slam organizers for skipping a news conference following her first-round win at the French Open on Sunday, and was also warned of possible expulsion from Roland Garros and future majors if she fails to meet her media commitments.
In the run up to the clay court major, the world number two announced she would boycott news conferences while in Paris to raise awareness of players’ mental well-being, saying the nature of questions from journalists is like “kicking a person when they are down”.