No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka had a far more comfortable victory in his second-round match on Wednesday at Roland Garros. After surviving a five-set encounter against Lukas Rosol on Monday, Wawrinka improved his form as he defeated Taro Daniel of Japan in straight sets, 7-6(7), 6-3, 6-4. 

The Swiss star nearly found himself in another lengthy battle as Daniel held two set points in the opening set tie-break, but Wawrinka fought back from 4/6 to take the first set. He started the second set strongly by breaking Daniel and put consistent pressure on the Japanese player’s serve, earning break point chances in four out of Daniel’s five service games that set. Wawrinka broke his opponent once again at 5-3 to take a commanding two-set lead.

Daniel is known for his competitiveness and wouldn’t go away quietly, breaking Wawrinka in the first game of the third set.  Wawrinka had more firepower from the baseline, though, eventually earning the break back on a lengthy game on Daniel’s serve at 4-3. With Daniel serving at 4-5, Wawrinka sealed the contest on his first match point with a backhand winner. Next up for Wawrinka in the third round is No. 30 seed Jeremy Chardy. 

“He plays a different style, more from the baseline, a lot of long rallies, topspin, forehand. It was a good match. I’m happy to get through in three sets,” said Wawrinka. “Chardy is a dangerous player. He’s playing really fast and heavy, big serve and always trying to use his forehand. He loves to play here, so I will have to play better.”

The Frenchman delighted the local crowd on Court 6 with a straight-sets win over qualifier Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. With the crowd chanting his name in the last game of the match, Chardy hit an ace on his first match point. He is looking to reach the second week at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year.

“I started very well, and I was able to stay focused and aggressive throughout. I think I played a solid match. My energy never went down. That’s really what I wanted,” said Chardy. “Playing Stan will be a rough one. He’s a great player and plays well on all surfaces. I’m going to go on the court hopefully very confident and prepare for the match the same way I prepare for my other matches.”

Meanwhile, Teymuraz Gabashvili continues to find his best form at Roland Garros. The Russian caused the first upset of the day on Court 2 by defeating No. 19 seed and local favourite Benoit Paire, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Gabashvili reached the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time at last year’s Roland Garros. He’ll look to repeat that feat when he plays the winner of the match between No. 15 seed John Isner, who swept #NextGen star Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Lucky loser Andrej Martin of Slovakia continued to take advantage of his good fortune at Roland Garros. Martin dismissed 29^th seed Lucas Pouille of France 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 to move into the third round. Before Roland Garros, the 26-year-old Bratislava native had been 0-1 in Grand Slam matches (2013 US Open). He’ll face eighth seed Milos Raonic, who beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 7-6(0), 6-1.

Marcos Baghdatis reached the 300 match wins milestone as he defeated Gilles Muller 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 on Tuesday at Roland Garros, setting up a second-round meeting with Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The 30-year-old Cypriot notched his first victory since a quarter-final run last month in Houston (l. to Sock), improving to a 300-223 career mark and 11-8 on the season. In February, he had reached his 13th tour-level final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (l. to Wawrinka).

Baghdatis, a former World No. 8, will look to defeat fellow Australian Open finalist Tsonga for the first time in their seventh FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Tsonga cruised through their lone clay-court clash in Rome in 2011. “I don’t want to give him any opportunities. I don’t even want him to believe that there’s a door that’s slightly open,” Tsonga said. “I will be really strong, and we’ll see.”

The sixth seed opened with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff. Tsonga, a two-time semi-finalist at Roland-Garros, won his first-round match in Paris for the eighth time in nine appearances. Earlier this month, Tsonga had to withdraw from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia because of an adductor injury.

“I feel more reassured. That is, now I can play my tennis completely. We had interesting rallies and physically I did what I wanted to do,” Tsonga said.

David Goffin, playing with his highest Grand Slam seed yet, upset the home crowd by beating French wild card Gregoire Barrere 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

The 12th-seeded Goffin broke the Frenchman six times to move on in straight sets. The Belgian, who made the third round in Roland Garros last year, is looking to build on his strong season to date. The 25 year old reached back-to-back semi-finals in Indian Wells and Miami. In Rome earlier this month, he became the first player on tour to beat Tomas Berdych 6-0, 6-0.

Novak Djokovic is aiming to complete a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros, but first he’ll have to win seven matches. On Tuesday, he opened his tournament against Yen-Hsun Lu and scored an uncomplicated 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win.

“Whether or not I’m going to have a chance to fight for a trophy, that’s in the Almighty’s hands, I can’t influence that, but I can certainly give my best and give my all, as always,” said Djokovic.

The temperamental conditions in the French capital did not prove problematic for the World No. 1, especially against an opponent who had not played at tour-level since the Australian Open due to elbow surgery. The 2015 runner-up avoided the five-set struggles that defending champion Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray experienced in their openers.

“We aimed to play on Monday, but it didn’t happen. But it wasn’t a big deal,” Djokovic said. “Weather conditions are not going in the favour of the tournament in the past couple of days. It’s been raining a lot. So the courts are a bit heavier and the conditions are quite different. But it’s not the first time. It happens quite often in Paris.

“I just needed the time to kind of get myself engaged, used to the new tournament. The second and third sets were really good. I thought I found my rhythm. The first set was up and down. But I’ll take the positives out of it, and I’m hoping that I can progress as the tournament goes on.”

Djokovic was a match away from capturing the Roland Garros title in the past two years, falling to Rafael Nadal in 2014 and to Wawrinka in 2015.

“It’s not the first time this year that I’m experiencing such anticipation and expectations. As a matter of fact, I think it’s been three years in a row that I’ve found myself in a very similar situation, where I’m approaching this tournament as one of the favourites,” Djokovic said. “Obviously people wonder if this is the year or not, and I wonder myself.

“But it depends on me how I’m going to use this emotion. So I try to use it as a motivation to inspire myself, to play well, to stay calm and focus only on the present moment.”

Novak Djokovic’s quest for a career Grand Slam began with ease on Tuesday at Roland Garros. The World No. 1 bypassed Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 to stretch his undefeated streak to 12-0 in first-round play in Paris. The Serb broke Lu seven times and hit 34 winners to 22 unforced errors. He also won nearly twice as many points as Lu, 92-55.

“Second and third sets were really good. I thought I found my rhythm. First set was up and down,” Djokovic said. “But I’ll take the positives out of it, and I’m hoping I can progress as the tournament goes on.”

In the second round, Djokovic will face Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis, No. 161 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Darcis beat Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. At Wimbledon in 2013, Darcis became the first person to beat Rafael Nadal in the first round of a Grand Slam.

“He’s been around the tour for many years. He had a couple of big wins,” Djokovic said. “I haven’t seen him play much on clay. I’m going to have to do a little bit of homework there.”

Djokovic has won every Grand Slam except Roland Garros. The right-hander reached the final three times but lost every time, including last year to Stan Wawrinka in four sets. With a title this fortnight, Djokovic would become just the eighth man in history to complete the career Grand Slam.

“It’s not the first time that I’m experiencing such anticipation and expectations,” Djokovic said. “I try to use it as a motivation to inspire myself, to play well, to stay calm and focus only on the present moment.”

Lu had pulled off big wins in the past, including beating fifth seed Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2010 and then-World No. 3 David Ferrer in Auckland in 2014. But Lu was playing in just his second event since November. The former World No. 33 underwent right elbow surgery in January. He reached the final at the Seoul Challenger earlier this month (l. to Stakhovsky).

ROLAND GARROS MATCH WINS LEADERS
– Djokovic is the only player in the Top 10 list without a title:

Eleventh seed David Ferrer got off to a quick start by dispatching Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-1, 6-2, 6-0. Ferrer won 82 per cent of his first-serve points and erased the only break point he faced during the first-round match. “I’m very happy about this win,” he said.

This is the first year Ferrer is playing at Roland Garros without having won a clay-court title since 2009. The Spaniard, the 2013 runner-up in Paris (l. to Nadal), will face Argentine Juan Monaco, who beat Denis Istomin 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. “This year was not as smooth as other years, but these are things that happen,” Ferrer said. “As long as I enjoy playing tennis, as long as I keep being motivated, things are okay.”

Kevin Anderson will not be playing in the second round at Roland Garros for the first time in six years. The 18^th seed fell to French wild card Stephane Robert 6-4, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. The South African was playing in just his seventh tournament of the season, having struggled with shoulder and ankle injuries.

Robert matches his best Roland Garros result in his sixth appearance since 2004. The 36 year old will play countryman Pierre-Hugues Herbert or German Alexander Zverev next.