PARIS (Reuters) – Defending champion Novak Djokovic shrugged off doubts about the state of his game with a confident 6-4 7-6(3) 6-4 defeat of Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the French Open first round on Tuesday.
The top seed had to wait until the night match on the third day of the tournament to begin his quest for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title but quickly hit his stride to dispatch French wildcard Herbert on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Djokovic has not reached a final this year and his world number one ranking is under threat from Jannik Sinner.
But everything looked in fine working order against Herbert who put up solid resistance but never looked likely to unduly concern the Serbian who has now won 72 of his 74 first-round matches in Grand Slam tournaments.
The only blip was in the second set when Djokovic dropped serve and was dragged into a tiebreak but he found an extra gear to move towards victory.
Three-time Roland Garros champion Djokovic will face Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena in round two.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon)
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