PARIS. He starts with a victory, that of the Ligurian Fabio Fognini, and a defeat, of Alessandro Giannessi, the adventure of the eleven blues in the Roland Garros draw, the second seasonal slam started in Paris and which also saw the immediate elimination of one of the four Italians entered, Silvia Cocciaretto. The 34-year-old from Arma di Taggia, n.29 in the ranking, beat French Gregoire Barrere in three sets (6-4, 6-1, 6-4). Giannessi’s debut stops a step away from the enterprise: the 31-year-old from La Spezia forced the almost contemporary but much more experienced Kei Nishikori to a five-set marathon, which the Japanese made his own for 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 after more than four hours of play. On the other fields, on the first Sunday of play, he surprised the comeback victory of the Spaniard Pablo Andujar over the world number 4 Dominic Thiem, who after almost 4.5 hours of play lost 4-6, 5-7, 6 -3, 6-4, 6-4. The Austrian, a finalist in 2018 and 2019, had never come out in the first round in Paris.
Tomorrow is the debut match for four Azzurri: Jannik Sinner, Gianluca Mager, Lorenzo Sonego and Lorenzo Musetti. The South Tyrolean, who reached the quarterfinals last year, will face Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Mager, n.87 of the ranking, will face the Australian John Millman, n.43. Sonego, who on clay has recently won the Cagliari tournament and was semifinalist in Rome forcing Djokovic to the third set, will face the South African Lloyd Harris, with the minimum goal of reaching the second round like last year. The 19-year-old Musetti was not lucky in the draw and will face the Belgian David Goffin, n.13 Atp, also eliminated last year by Sinner in the first round.
In the women’s tournament, the 20-year-old Cocciaretto from Marche, rescued as a lucky loser from the qualifiers, was defeated 6-1 6-3 by the Romanian Ana Bogdan. Another qualifier, the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina, surprisingly eliminated the German Angelique Kerber. World # 2 Naomi Osaka defeated Romanian Patricia Maria Tig, but her announced decision to avoid press conferences cost her a $ 15,000 fine and a threat of exclusion from the tournament if she persists.