Third seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, making their first appearance since clinching the ATP Masters 1000 title at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, opened their Roland Garros campaign on Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Australians Matthew Ebden and John-Patrick Smith.

The Colombians also won the clay-court crown in April at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (d. Murray/Soares), and improve to a 10-1 match record starting with that title run. Cabal and Farah will be looking to reach the quarter-finals or better for a third straight year in Paris.

Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, the No. 4 seeds and returning finalists, defeated Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Mischa Zverev 7-6(2), 6-4 in their first-round match. The Austrian/Croatian duo also entered Paris on the heels of a successful title run, claiming their first trophy of the season last week in Geneva.

The other seeded duo in action Wednesday, No. 5 seeds Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor, fell to Spaniards Pablo Cuevas and Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Mektic and Skugor had won the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters title to start off the European clay swing, and were making their team’s debut at the clay-court major.

Cuevas and Lopez are both former Roland Garros doubles champions. Cuevas won here 11 years ago with Luis Horna, while Lopez teamed up with fellow Spaniard Marc Lopez to claim the title in 2016.

Serbian Dusan Lajovic swears he’s not addicted to coffee. With his morning breakfast, if he feels a little bit low on energy, the 30^th seed at Roland Garros usually has a short espresso, and around 4 or 5 p.m., he might savour a cappuccino, a little pick-me-up to avoid the mid-afternoon slump.

So about two coffees every day.

“Two… three… four… Sometimes but not every day,” Lajovic told ATPTour.com. “Let’s say two is a regular dose.

“But I’m trying to not overdue it.”

Who could fault him, though, for occasionally indulging? It’s good for business.

Lajovic, along with Serbian doubles player Nikola Cacic, co-founded and co-owns “Laboratorije Kafe”, or Coffee Lab, located about 25 metres from his front door in Belgrade, or, if it was at Roland Garros, about the distance between Court Philippe Chatrier and Court 1.

The café serves the usual coffees – espressos and cappuccinos – along with fresh juices, smoothies, bagels, cookies and ice cream. They import their coffee beans from Italy, after originally sourcing them from Colombia and Brazil, where a sweeter bean grows.

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“Now I would say it’s a little bit darker, and it’s similar to what people are used to in the country,” Lajovic said.

Most Serbians drink Turkish coffee, which has a more sour-tasting flavour, at home, Lajovic said, but the lab offers something a little different.

True to its name, the business also has a lab-like feel. It’s all black and white, and its smoothies come in beaker-like glassware. “We actually buy the glasses in the shop from the laboratories,” Lajovic said.

Initially, when he and Cacic founded the business about a few years ago, Lajovic envisioned it as the first in a future chain of shops. But even the most fledgling of tennis careers require full-time focus, and, for Lajovic, future growth forecasts for his main hustle have never looked more promising.

The Serbian reached his first ATP Tour final in April at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, an ATP Masters 1000 event, beating Austrian Dominic Thiem (No. 5) and Daniil Medvedev of Russia (No. 14) to hit a career-high in the ATP Rankings of No. 23.

“He hasn’t surprised me with the level of tennis on clay, because I knew that he has the ability to play at a really high level,” said countryman Novak Djokovic, World No. 1 and 2016 Roland Garros champion.

“But to do it day after day at such a big tournament and to win against big players like Dominic Thiem is phenomenal, and I congratulate him for the great success… It’s great for Serbian tennis.”

At Roland Garros, Lajovic is seeded for the first time at a Grand Slam, a designation that has helped him avoid the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the first or second round.

In four of the past seven Grand Slams, Lajovic has faced a Top 5 player in the first two rounds.

“It’s a little bit of a relief,” Lajovic said. “Top 32 in a Grand Slam is something you’re always trying to do. When I broke into the Top 50, the next goal was to be seeded in a Grand Slam. Now I’m here, so I’m liking that I did those steps.

“I think every player is doubting about his goals and everything, so whenever you do something like that, it feels satisfactory.”

The 28-year-old credits coach Jose Perlas, who has worked with former No. 1s Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero, along with Lajovic’s countryman Janko Tipsarevic, for the steady improvement. At the start of 2017, Lajovic was ranked No. 93.

“I’ve tried to become a little bit more aggressive, to be more dominant with the forehand… and try to use that as my weapon from all kinds of positions on the court,” Lajovic said.

In the past, for instance, if the ball came to his backhand side, he’d hit a backhand, and if it came to his forehand, he’d hit a forehand. He rarely diverted from those basics.

They’ve tweaked his fitness regimen as well, matching his workouts to his in-match movements.

“I understand him perfectly what he wants from me, he understands what I feel on the court. The connection is really good,” Lajovic said.

The Serbian should also feel good on the clay, and especially at Roland Garros, where he made his best Slam showing in 2014, reaching the Round of 16 before falling to Nadal.

Lajovic, however, doesn’t have to worry about facing the 11-time Roland Garros champion unless both reach the final.

The earliest time the Serbian could play a Top 5 player is in the third round, against fifth seed Alexander Zverev, which wouldn’t be until Saturday, or, in Lajovic’s language, at least three espressos and three cappuccinos from now.

Take a look at Wednesday’s schedule at Roland Garros and one thing immediately jumps off the page. Past champions Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are in action, but who are their opponents?

Dig a little deeper and the same question could be asked of half the Top 10 seeds, including Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Karen Khachanov. While you might not be familiar with the players standing on the other side of the net, they have certainly been garnering plenty of attention on the ATP Challenger Tour this year.

In fact, the five opponents have one thing in common: they all won their first Grand Slam matches this week. With Yannick Maden battling Nadal, Oscar Otte clashing with Federer, Mikael Ymer facing Zverev, Hugo Dellien dueling with Tsitsipas and Gregoire Barrere meeting Khachanov, the stars of the Challenger circuit will have their say on one of the game’s biggest stages.

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For players competing at the Challenger level, these moments are their big opportunity to showcase their talents in front of a global audience. Maden, Otte, Dellien, Ymer and Barrere have all been successfully plotting their ascent towards the Top 100 and beyond this year. And this is another important step in the process.

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When Barrere first entered Roland Garros as a main draw competitor, it was 2016. The Frenchman was thrust into the spotlight on Court One against 12th seed David Goffin. It was the first tour-level match of his career, and he is the first to admit that it did not go according to plan.

Flash forward three years and the 25-year-old is now armed with a stronger all-around game and a firmer belief in his abilities. The rest of the tour is beginning to take notice. The Frenchman’s career trajectory has taken a circuitous route, as the once-thriving Top 200 prospect endured a slip to No. 624 in the ATP Rankings just last year.

In search of his game and much-needed confidence, everything changed when he stepped onto the home hard courts of Lille as a qualifier and emerged as an ATP Challenger Tour champion for the first time. One year later and Barrere is playing the best tennis of his career and soaring towards a Top 100 breakthrough.

On Tuesday, the Charenton-le-Pont native – located just 20 minutes from Roland Garros – finally celebrated his moment in the spotlight at his home Grand Slam, ousting Matthew Ebden 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 for his first major victory. For Barrere, it wasn’t just an ordinary win on Court 14, rather the culmination of a year of hard work on the Challenger circuit.

One of the top performers on the tour in 2019, Barrere is tied for fifth among win percentage leaders with a 21-7 record (.750). A pair of titles in nearby Quimper and Lille have seen him surge to a career-high of No. 117, and he is now on the precipice of climbing even higher. Victory over 10th seed Khachanov on Thursday would assure him of that.

“I still have 10 years ahead of me, so I take it step by step,” said Barrere. “I would like to get into the Top 100 very soon. That’s the objective of the season. Of course, if I enter the Top 100 in two weeks, in two months, that’s not my objective. I just try to progress on a daily basis to put everything together and then the ranking has to follow.”

Barrere is not the only player to celebrate his first Grand Slam victory this week. In fact, a staggering 12 competitors have secured the milestone with an opening-round triumph at Roland Garros. That’s the most at the same slam since 2001 in Paris. While some have already established themselves on the ATP Tour this year, including two-time champ Cristian Garin, Cordoba winner Juan Ignacio Londero and Indian Wells quarter-finalist Miomir Kecmanovic, this marks a potentially career-changing achievement for the nine others.

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Barrere, Dellien, Maden, Otte, Ymer, Elliot Benchetrit, Salvatore Caruso, Lloyd Harris and Antoine Hoang all tasted victory for the first time on the Grand Slam stage. But these moments don’t appear out of thin air. For many, like Barrere, they have been building to this on the Challenger circuit.

Ymer is also Top 5 in win percentage this year, and in addition to lifting his maiden trophy in Noumea, the #NextGenATP Swede reached a pair of clay-court finals last month in Murcia and Bordeaux. Maden and Otte have also reached multiple finals this year, while Dellien claimed his fourth title on the clay of Santiago, Chile. And Caruso earned arguably the biggest scalp of the year with a comeback win over World No. 21 David Goffin in Phoenix.

In February, Antoine Hoang earned his first ATP Tour match win in Montpellier, the week after reaching his third Challenger final at the presitigious Open de Rennes. Now inside the Top 150 and climbing, he believes that Tuesday’s four-set victory over Damir Dzumhur is the culmination of everything he’s been fighting for.

“I did everything to have this result,” Hoang said. “It’s a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. I’ve been expecting this for a long time. I’ve been practising for this result. I’m relieved. But the show must go on, and I hope that it will go as long as possible. The aim is to be part of the Top 100 by the end of the year.”

Hoang will look to the home crowd for more support when he faces 23rd-seed Fernando Verdasco on Thursday.

As you’re watching the action unfold in the coming days, keep an eye out for these emerging talents. There’s a strong chance you’ll be seeing more of them in the near future.

No light? No problem for Gael Monfils.

The No. 14 seed beat Japanese Taro Daniel and the Parisian sunset on Tuesday at Roland Garros, advancing to the second round at his home Grand Slam for the 12th time with a 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 victory.

When Monfils and Daniel walked on Court Philippe-Chatrier just short of 8 p.m. local time, it appeared they would need to resume play on Wednesday. But Monfils sped through the opening-round match, striking 38 winners to just 24 unforced errors in his one-hour, 41-minute triumph that ended at 9:33 p.m.

“I really wanted to finish today. I didn’t want to play a set tomorrow,” Monfils said. “I’m happy I managed to play well, and I’m very happy about that.”

The No. 1 Frenchman, a 2008 semi-finalist and two-time quarter-finalist at Roland Garros, has enjoyed a resurgent 2019 after struggling in parts of last season due to injury. Monfils claimed his eighth ATP Tour title in Rotterdam, and recently held two match points against Roger Federer in Madrid before falling in a third-set tie-break. In the next round, he will face countryman Adrian Mannarino, who finished his 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory against Italian qualifier Stefano Travaglia just moments after Monfils.

In the second set, it appeared Daniel might even the match after breaking in the first game and increasing his aggression at points. But in the key moments, Monfils was able to raise his level another notch, showing his incredible athleticism with dogged defence and rapid covering of the net to take a two-sets lead.

“I paid a price at the beginning of the second set because I was too fast from the back of the court, and I could have waited a bit to slow down, ease the pressure. And then luckily I was able to win this very long game at 5-4 and go two sets to love,” Monfils said. “It’s not easy. But two sets to love, I was quite happy to win this game for one good reason. I was serving afterwards, and I was going to put a lot of pressure, serve very hard, to show that I want to go faster.”

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But Monfils was not content with that, locking in even more in the decider, especially on serve (11/11 first-serve points won), to move through in the nick of time. Monfils’ only first-round loss at Roland Garros came on his debut in 2005, when he was 18.

Mannarino, on the other hand, is through to the second round in Paris for only the third time on his 11th appearance. Mannarino leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, including a five-set win at Wimbledon in 2017.

“It’s never easy to play a French guy, especially Adrian. He has a game which is particularly — he’s left-handed, he plays very flat and low balls in the backhand. And over the past two years he’s been playing better on clay. He’s feeling better. He’s a good warrior,” Monfils said. “It’s always difficult matches in Roland Garros to play against French players, because the audience is shared. It’s not easy.”