Men's round-up
Roitman gave Costa the scare of his life |
Defending champion Albert Costa came back from two sets and a break down to unknown Argentine Sergio Roitman in the opening round at Roland Garros.
Costa ended up a 6-7 (3/7) 2-6 7-5 6-2 6-2 winner, narrowly avoiding becoming the first defending champion to crash in the first round.
He looked a shadow of the player that won the title 12 months ago, before turning the match on its head in the third set when trailing 4-1.
Roitman, a lucky loser from the qualifying rounds playing only the fourth Tour match of his career, lost his way after a brilliant start.
Costa will face Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, after he beat Australia's Wayne Arthurs 6-1 4-6 6-1 7-6 (7/2).
Top seed Lleyton Hewitt made life difficult for himself before seeing off Brian Vahaly 6-4 6-1 6-7 (6/8) 6-3.
Hewitt wasted four match points before eventually putting his opponent away after more than three hours.
The world number one looked to be coasting past Vahaly - who was making his first appearance at Roland Garros - but was pushed into a fourth set after he threw away three match points when leading 6-3 in the third-set tie-break.
Hewitt raced to an early lead in the fourth set, but was broken when serving for the match at 5-2, before nailing the tie with an immediate break back.
He will now play Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Britain's Greg Rusedski in the first round.
Gustavo Kuerten fended off a fierce challenge from Swiss veteran Marc Rosset to progress into the second round with a 6-2 6-7 6-3 7-6 victory.
But the Brazilian three-times former champion said he was still far from his best after an average claycourt season so far.
"My forehand, my backhand, my serve, my dropshots. Everything. I need to improve everything," he said.
Former champion Michael Chang's final appearance at Roland Garros ended with a straight-sets defeat by Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
Chang, who won the title back in 1989, fought hard in the first set but he fell away in the last two and lost 7-5 6-1 6-1.
"In my 16-year career, I only cried twice and both times were on this court," Chang told the crowd afterwards.
Last year's beaten finalist and this year's favourite Juan Carlos Ferrero had little difficulty in beating Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland 7-5 7-5 6-4.
Eighth seed David Nalbandian was pushed to four sets before beating Albert Montanes 6-4 6-3 3-6 7-5.
But French 16-year-old Richard Gasquet's French Open ended before it began when he was forced to pull out of his match against Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti with cramp.
MMIX
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