PARIS (Agencies): Alexander Zverev made a winning return to the French Open a year after leaving his Roland Garros semi-final in a wheelchair with a serious ankle injury.
The 26-year-old had to retire injured in the second set of his semi-final against Rafael Nadal last year and was out for six months with torn ligaments.
The German beat South African Lloyd Harris 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-0) 6-1 in the first round on Tuesday.
“It’s very, very nice to be back,” he said in his on-court interview.
“I was obviously very disappointed with how that tournament finished for me [last year].
“That’s why I appreciate it even more when I play in a full stadium and the crowd is behind me. It was just a lot of fun out there.”
Zverev, seeded 22nd, will face Slovakia’s Alex Molcan next as he bids for a first major singles title.
They are joined in the second round by last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud after the Norwegian world number four beat Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer 6-4 6-3 6-2 with a commanding display of baseline power.
Second seed Daniil Medvedev is also in action on Tuesday, taking on Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild, while Danish sixth seed Holger Rune opens his campaign against American Christopher Eubanks.
Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur through at Roland Garros: American sixth seed Coco Gauff and Tunisian seventh seed Ons Jabeur put a recent lack of form behind them to reach the French Open second round.
Gauff, who reached the final at Roland Garros last year, fought back from behind to win 3-6 6-1 6-2 against Spain’s Rebeka Masarova.
Jabeur, whose preparations were disrupted by a calf injury, won 6-4 6-1 against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti.
Jabeur won in little over an hour as she avoided another early Paris exit.
Last year she was beaten in the first round on the Roland Garros clay but avoided the same fate by making strong starts to both sets against 65th-ranked Bronzetti.
Before facing Bronzetti, the Wimbledon and US Open finalist had played one match since retiring injured against Iga Swiatek in Stuttgart on 22 April.
Gauff’s progress was not as straightforward against 71st-ranked Masarova.
After not winning back-to-back matches on the European clay this season, 19-year-old Gauff endured a difficult opening set where she lacked trust in her shots and was unable to take any of eight break points.
But she began to grow in confidence from the start of the second set and the increased aggression of her shots forced Masarova into more errors.
Gauff had not fought back to win from a set down in her previous 15 matches, but showed her mental resilience to avoid a shock and tee up a meeting with Austrian world number 61 Julia Grabher in the second round.
Jabeur, 28, will face a French opponent in the second round in the shape of either world number 122 Oceane Dodin or wildcard Selena Janicijevic.
Later on Tuesday, world number Swiatek will start her title defence against Spanish world number 70 Cristina Bucsa, with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina also in action.
