By Julien Pretot
PARIS, May 24 (Reuters) - French Open dark horse Alexander Zverev started his Roland Garros campaign with a meticulous 6-3 6-4 6-2 first-round demolition of France's Benjamin Bonzi in searing heat on Sunday.
The 2024 runner-up and three-time semi-finalist, who is chasing his maiden Grand Slam title, never allowed the world number 95 into the contest on court Philippe Chatrier as he set up a second-round meeting with Tomas Machac of Czech Republic.
"Very good start to the tournament,
it's always good to start with a win in straight sets especially against Benjamin who can be a tricky opponent," the German second seed said.
The two-week tournament started under blazing sun as fans in Panama hats streamed into Roland Garros, which felt more like the Riviera than claycourt grind as alleys echoed with a violin rendition of Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" and other soft-rock staples.
With temperatures expected to exceed 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), Russian Karen Khachanov, seeded 13, dispatched French hope Arthur Gea on Court Suzanne Lenglen before 11th-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic downed Sinja Kraus of Austria.
The claycourt Grand Slam suffered two major withdrawals as twice champion Carlos Alcaraz pulled out last month with a wrist injury and much-hyped local favourite Arthur Fils also withdrew injured on Saturday.
Italian Jannik Sinner, the world number one, is the heavy favourite in the men’s draw, while the women’s draw seems wide open.
Serbian Novak Djokovic, chasing a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title, opens his campaign against big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard later on Sunday.
Russian eighth seed Mirra Andreeva will be the highest seeded woman in action when she takes on French wildcard Fiona Ferro.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris and Andrew Cawthorne)
