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Stan Wawrinka’s champion’s spirit came to the fore on Monday at Roland Garros.

The 2015 champion narrowly avoided a second consecutive first-round exit at the clay-court major when he battled past Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-7(2), 1-6, 6-4. The Swiss needed four hours and 35 minutes to take an 8-0 ATP Head2Head series lead against the lefty.

It was the 38-year-old’s 30th five-set victory (30-25). According to Infosys ATP Stats, the only active players with more five-set wins are Novak Djokovic (37-10) and Marin Cilic (34-20).

When Ramos-Vinolas missed a final backhand long, the Court 14 crowd rose in unison to roar in celebration. Wawrinka pointed his left index finger towards his temple to signify that he had found a way through another difficult battle.

The Swiss only converted four of the 17 break points he earned, but his 76 winners were enough to advance to the second round. He will next play Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, who ousted 20th seed Daniel Evans in straight sets on Sunday.

Novak Djokovic made an imperious start to his bid for a record 23rd major crown on Monday at Roland Garros, where the Serbian dispatched Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(1) on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Kovacevic made a confident start to his Grand Slam main draw debut, but he was unable to hold his illustrious opponent back after Djokovic claimed the first break of the match in the sixth game. Despite a third-set turnaround in which the American rallied from 3-5 to force a tie-break, Djokovic held firm to complete a first-round win in which he converted five of his 12 break points and struck 41 winners to Kovacevic’s 25.

The World No. 114 Kovacevic, who idolised Djokovic as a child and posed for a picture with the Serbian as a seven-year-old at the 2005 US Open, showed flashes of his best level throughout the two-hour, 26-minute encounter. Yet he was unable to match the consistency of Djokovic from the baseline and had no answer to the third seed’s razor-sharp returning.

Despite an uncharacteristic lapse from Djokovic in the third set, the World No. 3 otherwise maintained a high level throughout his victory. He struck his groundstrokes cleanly off both wings and won 82 per cent (37/45) of points behind his first serve in the match.

A two-time Roland Garros champion, Djokovic can move ahead of Rafael Nadal in the Grand Slam titles race with his second major triumph of the season in Paris (he also triumphed at January’s Australian Open). His next challenge in the French capital is a second-round clash with World No. 83 Marton Fucsovics.

Cameron Norrie earned a dramatic first-round win on Monday at Roland Garros, where he clawed past Frenchman Benoit Paire in a five-set thriller.

The British lefty fought hard throughout the three-hour, 36-minute clash, triumphing 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The 14th seed showed great agility to handle Paire’s court craft and he rallied from 2-4 in the fifth set, demonstrating his high fitness levels to defeat former World No. 18 Paire, who was backed by vocal home support on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

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Norrie is into the second round at the clay-court Slam for the third consecutive year, having advanced to the third round in 2021 and 2022. The 27-year-old is currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and will be aiming for a deep run in Paris to climb higher.

Arthur Fils and Nicolas Jarry have both climbed to career highs in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings after triumphing at ATP 250 events in Lyon and Geneva, respectively. ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week as of Monday, 29 May 2023.

View Pepperstone ATP Rankings

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No. 63 Arthur Fils, +49 (Career High)
The 18-year-old Frenchman has cracked the Top 100 for the first time after he became the youngest tour-level champion of the season when he won his maiden title at the Open Parce Aurvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon. The #NextGenATP star defeated Francisco Cerundolo in the final to become the third first-time winner of the year and the lowest-ranked champion in 2023. Fils and countryman Luca Van Assche, 19, are the only teenagers inside the Top 100.

No. 35 Nicolas Jarry, +19 (Carrer High)
The Chilean continued his impressive season at the Gonet Geneva Open, where he lifted his second title of the season. The 27-year-old defeated former champions Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud en route to the final, before he beat Grigor Dimitrov in the final. He is up 19 spots to a career-high No. 35.

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and two-time champion Novak Djokovic kick off their Roland Garros campaign on a jam-packed Monday in Paris, where Jannik Sinner, Frances Tiafoe, and Cameron Norrie are also among the seeded players in action.

ATPTour.com previews three key matches on Day 2 of the clay-court major.

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[1] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. [Q] Flavio Cobolli (ITA)

The top seed Alcaraz, who boasts a 30-3 season record, begins his quest for a second major title against a confident Cobolli, who advanced through qualifying en route to his maiden Grand Slam main draw appearance. Alcaraz on Monday will play his first match at a major since winning the 2022 US Open (withdrew from the Australian Open with a right leg injury).

A quarter-finalist last year in Paris, Alcaraz has shown his best level on the clay this season, collecting three of his four 2023 titles on the surface. When asked in his pre-tournament press conference how his game differs from a year ago, Alcaraz stated his improvements have been on the mental side of the game.

This year’s Roland Garros is proving a renaissance for Lucas Pouille.

No. 675 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, the Frenchman entered the tournament far from the level with which he once cracked the world’s Top 10. But inspired by his home crowd, the 29-year-old has shown he has plenty of top-level tennis left in him.

Pouille defeated Austrian lucky loser Jurij Rodionov 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to reach the second round. The Frenchman is the lowest-ranked player to win a first-round match at Roland Garros since World No. 762 Pablo Cuevas in 2013.

Pouille qualified for the main draw on Thursday when he rallied past Rodionov. The Austrian was given a second chance to oust the home favourite when he moved into the draw as a lucky loser, but was unable to overcome the five-time ATP Tour titlist.

After the 2019 Australian Open semi-finalist sealed his victory in one hour and 56 minutes, he sang La Marseillaise in unison with the crowd. The moment will be one of the most memorable of the tournament.

On 8 June 2003, Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Martin Verkerk to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros, in what was one of the highlights of his career. Twenty years later, the former World No. 1 is back at the season’s second major on the bench of one of the favourites for the title in Paris.

On Monday, Carlos Alcaraz will play his first-round match against Flavio Cobolli of Italy with the peace of mind knowing that his coach has already been there and done that in Paris.

“During the pandemic he watched a bit of the final,” said Ferrero of Alcaraz and his Roland Garros championship match. “Kids today are much more about highlights than entire matches. We joke a lot, and he tells me that I didn’t used to hit the ball very hard. At the end of the day, I try to get him to see the body language, the mannerisms and the way to handle moments in that kind of match.”

Alcaraz arrives at Roland Garros as the first seed, and with something of a target on his back as the man to beat on clay. Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud, for example, were quick to name the Spaniard as the man most likely to get his hands on the trophy come the competition’s closing Sunday.

“Carlos has played better than anyone during the clay season, but you have to do that every day at every tournament, as I tell him,” revealed Ferrero. “We saw that in Rome; you have an average day, your opponent plays well and you lose. Everything points to Carlos as the favourite, we’ve heard it many times and we know that.”

Could Roland Garros be where Andrey Rublev makes his breakthrough at a major?

The seventh seed made a good start on Sunday when he defeated Laslo Djere 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round. The 25-year-old hit 37 winners to move on after two hours and 32 minutes.

Rublev appeared in difficulty when Djere moved ahead by a service break in the third set, level at one set apiece. But the 13-time ATP Tour titlist buckled down from there to avoid a second first-round exit at the clay-court major in three years.

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His confidence is as high as ever. Earlier this clay swing, Rublev captured his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo and reached the final at the ATP 250 event in Banja Luka.

“For me, failure is not negative. It’s part of your career, especially in tennis."

Those are the words of three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka, who sat down with ATP Uncovered for the latest edition of the ‘Note To Self’ series.

The former World No. 3 spoke on a variety of topics from his early days. The Swiss explained whether he enjoyed practice and fitness workouts as a junior, and revealed advice he would give to his younger self.

What trait does Wawrinka wish he would’ve had more of at the start of his career? Why was 2013 "a turning year" for him? Wawrinka leaves the episode by writing three important words on a whiteboard. Learn the answers to all that and more by watching the full video feature above.

Stefanos Tsitsipas passed a stern first-round test on Sunday at Roland Garros, where the fifth seed overcame Jiri Vesely 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7) at the clay-court major.

The fifth seed appeared set for a routine victory on Court Philippe Chatrier after claiming the first two sets but Vesely, playing in his first tour-level tournament since the US Open last September, battled hard. The Czech sealed the third set with a late break of his opponent’s serve and led 6/3 in the fourth-set tie-break, but Tsitsipas kept his cool to dig out a three-hour, 13-minute victory.

“He was a difficult obstacle today, I won’t lie,” said Tsitsipas of the former World No. 35 Vesely. “He gave me a hard time. I’m happy I overcame it in such a fashion. I was able to bounce back from all those difficulties that were being thrown at me constantly. Today’s win is very important for me.”

With his 28th tour-level win of the year, Tsitsipas kept alive his hopes of reaching No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time on 12 June. The 24-year-old must lift his major maiden trophy in Paris to have a chance of reaching top spot, although he would also need Carlos Alcaraz to fall by the third round and Daniil Medvedev to lose by the quarter-finals.

Tsitsipas outhit Vesely by 57 winners to 31 in Sunday's clash but the Czech consistently raised his level at key moments to keep the fifth seed on his toes in the pair’s maiden ATP Head2Head meeting. Tsitsipas’ dominance on serve ultimately proved key: The Greek won 83 per cent (71/86) of points behind his first delivery overall.

Novak Djokovic is a foundational reason why Serbian teenager Hamad Medjedovic is on Tour today. The 19-year-old first met the 93-time tour-level titlist on a birthday a decade ago and more of Medjedovic’s dreams have come true since.

Medjedovic advanced through Roland Garros qualifying to earn his place in the same major main draw as his childhood idol, whom he has fond memories of meeting for the first time.

“It was a surprise [on my ninth or 10th birthday]. I remember I was practising that day and my father just told me, ‘Let’s go, we are going somewhere’. We went together with my coach and then I saw we were going to his tennis centre,” Medjedovic told ATPTour.com. “Until the last moment, I couldn’t believe I was meeting him. I remember we were waiting for him and out of nowhere, he showed up. When I saw him, I was quite shocked. It was the first time we met.”

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The all-time great has played a major part in Medjedovic’s journey to his maiden Grand Slam appearance. 

It has not taken long for five-setters to pop up in Paris. Hubert Hurkacz and Karen Khachanov both won in five on Sunday to reach the second round at Roland Garros.

In a battle of former Top 10 players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, 13th seed Hurkacz battled past 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up David Goffin 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 after three hours and 37 minutes. It is the second consecutive year Hurkacz has defeated Goffin at the clay-court major (R32 in 2022).

The Polish star has earned plenty of experience in five-setters this year. Three of his four matches at the Australian Open went to a decider (2-1) and now he is through in five in the first round at Roland Garros.

Both men earned six service breaks in the match. But in the decider, Hurkacz hit 12 winners compared to four for Goffin. The Pole will next play another five-set winner, Tallon Griekspoor. The Dutchman defeated Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez 6-4, 2-6, 0-6, 7-5, 6-3.

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American Aleksandar Kovacevic had just turned seven when he went to the US Open and watched a five-set, first-round thriller between 18-year-olds Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils. Fast forward 18 years, World No. 114 Kovacevic is set to make his Grand Slam main draw debut at Roland Garros and face the winner of that match, 22-time major champion Djokovic.

“Watching him growing up was amazing. He’s the best player to ever play,” Kovacevic told ATPTour.com. “To play any of the ‘Big Three’ in any match, nonetheless a Grand Slam, the chances of that are getting smaller and smaller as the years go. Even though I feel like I just started my tennis career, it's something that I think all of the tennis players that are playing now want to do at some point is to play one of those. I just feel kind of lucky to be able to play Novak on stage like this. Honoured to play, it’s going to be super cool.”

Kovacevic was sitting in the bleachers on Court 10 at Flushing Meadows in 2005, when Djokovic, then an 18-year-old just inside the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, survived the humid New York afternoon and Monfils in the first round. Alongside Kovacevic was his younger sister Lena, his father Milan, who hails from Serbia, and mother Milanka, who is from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After the match, Djokovic posed for a picture with ‘Aleks’. 

“Djokovic was just coming up from juniors as one of the top players,” Milanka recalled. “We went there to watch him and nobody was there. Half an hour later, that court was so full and we were [a] few of the people that were cheering for Djokovic and I think that’s why he noticed us. After the spectacular match, we waited to congratulate him and he remembered seeing us and that’s why he took a picture with Aleks.”

Mate Valkusz enjoyed a breakthrough moment this week at the Skopje Challenger, where he advanced through qualifying en route to claiming his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title.

The Hungarian won seven matches in as many days and defeated Argentine Francisco Comesana 6-3, 6-4 in Saturday’s final at the Macedonian Open. Valkusz ousted three of the top five seeds at the clay-court event, including a quarter-final victory against top seed Aziz Dougaz.

The 24-year-old Valkusz adds to the promising young talent hailing from Hungary. Zsombor Piros, 23, has captured two Challenger titles this year while Fabian Marozsan won the Antalya Challenger in March and stunned Carlos Alcaraz en route to a fourth-round appearance at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.

At a career-high No. 224 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, Valkusz was also a finalist at last month’s Ostrava Challenger.

Comesana was competing in his third Challenger final and first of this year. The 22-year-old collected two Challenger titles in 2022, in Corrientes and Buenos Aires.

Novak Djokovic arrives at Roland Garros chasing history. If the Serbian triumphs in Paris, he will clinch a record 23rd Grand Slam trophy, moving one clear of Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic is relishing the opportunity to set another record when he takes to court at the clay-court major.

“It's no secret that one of the main reasons I play today and compete in professional tennis is to try to break more records and make more history in tennis,” Djokovic said in his pre-tournament press conference on Saturday. “That's extremely motivating and inspiring for me… History being on the line is something that is very flattering and is very motivating, no doubt about it.”

The third seed Djokovic arrives in Pairs holding a 5-3 record on clay this season. The 36-year-old suffered a third-round exit in Monte-Carlo before he lost against Holger Rune at the quarter-final stage in Rome. He also missed Madrid due to injury.

Despite recent setbacks, the two-time champion Djokovic is confident he can produce his best in the French capital.

#NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils became the youngest tour-level champion of the season on Saturday when he captured his first title at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon.

The 18-year-old, who is up to third in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race, caught up with ATPTour.com following his breakthrough at the ATP 250 clay-court event.

[ATP APP]

What does it mean to you to win your first ATP Tour title?
I'm really happy. It's been a great week for me in France with the home crowd so I'm really happy with the win.

How does it feel to win on home soil in Lyon?
It's great. During the semi-final, the crowd was amazing. It helped me a lot, I am so happy to play here.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has a certain “Je ne sais quoi” on a clay court. Once you study his match metrics on the terre battue, you begin to uncover what it is.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Stefanos Tsitsipas assembling 10 match victories in Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome last season identifies the subtleties of clay-court dominance, where power and winners take a back seat to getting the ball out of your opponents’ strike zone to extract errors.

The following five areas of Tsitsipas’ 10 match victories shine a light on the intricate layers of clay-court dominance. The Greek will surely be looking replicate this winning formula at Roland Garros over the following fortnight.

1) Rally Winners & Errors

The first thing to identify is that Tsitsipas won all 10 of his matches in this data set. Surprisingly, he hit fewer rally winners than his opponents.

Nicolas Jarry is an ATP Tour titlist once again.

The Chilean overcame fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(1), 6-1 on Saturday at the Gonet Geneva Open to clinch his third tour-level trophy and second of the season.

In a dominant performance, Jarry’s power proved too much for Dimitrov, who was competing in his first final since Rotterdam in 2018. The 27-year-old hammered eight aces and won 89 per cent (33/37) of his first-serve points to earn his 17th win of the season after one hour and 36 minutes.

“I feel amazing,” Jarry said. “It has been a great year. After all the work with my team and family we are having a great year and I am very happy for that. It is very special. Two finals, one title here. I am very happy.”

Jarry, who lifted the trophy in Santiago in March, upset former Geneva champions Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev en route to his second final in Geneva. Jarry lost against Zverev in the 2019 title match at the ATP 250 clay-court event, but ensured history would not repeat against Dimitrov.

Arthur Fils has arrived on the biggest stage.

The #NextGenATP Frenchman captured his first tour-level title on Saturday at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon, where he defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-5 to become the youngest champion in tournament history.

"I will remember this forever," Fils said. "It has been a great week. It has been amazing. I am happy with the win and now I want more. It was a tough semi-final match. Today I came onto court with not lots of energy, but I was focused on my game and trying my best.

"I was feeling that I was playing well earlier [this week] but I didn't maybe expect that I would win the tournament."

The 18-year-old, who overcame Brandon Nakashima in three sets in the semi-finals, played aggressively throughout the one-hour, 36-minute final. He showed great agility and opened his shoulders to overpower the fourth-seeded Argentine in their first ATP Head2Head meeting. Fils dropped to the floor after sealing victory on his first championship point, with the vocal home crowd roaring in support of the Frenchman.

A host of top players seek a fast start to their 2023 Roland Garros campaign Sunday as main draw play begins at the clay-court major. Top 10 stars Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev are in first-round action, while fast-rising American Ben Shelton makes his debut at the second Grand Slam of the season.

ATPTour.com previews some of the standout matches on the Day 1 schedule in Paris.

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[7] Andrey Rublev vs. Laslo Djere (SRB)

Having made his breakthrough into the ATP Masters 1000 winners’ circle at Monte-Carlo in April, has the time come for Rublev to make his mark on the major stage?

The 25-year-old is 12-3 for the season on clay, having also reached a championship match in Banja Luka. He is a seven-time quarter-finalist at Grand Slams, including twice at Roland Garros, and Rublev will bid to advance past the last eight at a major for the first time.