• Stefanos Tsitsipas, Grigor Dimitrov and Marin Cilic all win
The old and the new shone on the first day of the refurbished French Open but the winning return of Roger Federer after an absence of four years grabbed most insistently at the heartstrings of the faithful on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The creaking stadium has been knocked down and rebuilt, with a roof to come, but the welcome for the 37-year-old Swiss was as warm as ever. Although he played well, brilliantly in bursts, he had to fight hard towards the end before seeing off the determined challenge of the 24-year-old Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 41 minutes.
Written by Kevin Mitchell at Roland Garros
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/26/french-open-roger-federer-winning-return-nishikori-tsitsipas-cilic under the title “Roger Federer makes winning return to French Open after four years away”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.