Sinner overcomes late wobble to win Paris opener
French Open 2025
Dates: 25 May-8 June Venue: Roland Garros
Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website and app
World number one Jannik Sinner defied a late wobble to begin his French Open campaign with a straight-set victory over Arthur Rinderknech.
Playing his first Grand Slam match since serving a three-month doping ban, Italian Sinner beat his French opponent 6-4 6-3 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
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It was not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests, however, with the 23-year-old forced to fight back from a double break down in the third set against a resurgent Rinderknech.
It marked a return to winning ways for Sinner after Carlos Alcaraz ended his run of 26 successive match victories in the Italian Open final earlier this month.
“First-round matches are never easy,” he said. “I’m very happy with how I handled the situation, especially in the third set.
“He made a couple of mistakes when he was serving for the set so that gave me some help. But I just tried to have the right mindset and attitude.”
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Earlier on Monday, world number four Taylor Fritz became the highest-ranked player to exit this year’s tournament at Roland Garros as he was beaten by Daniel Altmaier in the first round.
Having saved three early break points in a cagey opener, Sinner was gifted the first set in an error-strewn service game from 75th-ranked Rinderknech, a backhand planted into the net on Sinner’s first set point sending the Italian on his way.
He broke at the second time of asking in the fourth game of the second set and eased through its remainder, dropping just a solitary point on serve.
But his game temporarily crumbled in the third set as Rinderknech, buoyed by a partisan crowd in his home capital, won the opening four games to take a commanding lead.
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Normality soon resumed however as Sinner fought back to cancel out Rinderknech’s break points, puncturing the atmosphere on the showcase court.
From there he barely gave his opponent another sniff of a chance. Piling the pressure on the Frenchman’s racquet, Sinner went a break up and sealed the match with a fierce serve Rinderknech, 29, could do little to match.
Sinner will play French veteran Richard Gasquet in the second round.
Former top 10 player Gasquet, 38, is playing the final tournament of his career at Roland Garros and beat compatriot and fellow wildcard Terence Atmane in his opening match.
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Sinner won his third major title at the Australian Open in January but has yet to reach the final at Roland Garros, exiting in the semi-finals 12 months ago at the hands of eventual champion Alcaraz.
In February he accepted an immediate three-month ban after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) over his two positive drugs tests last year.
That suspension ended earlier in May, meaning he was able to compete at his home tournament in Rome – where he dropped just one set en-route to the final against Alcaraz – before travelling to Paris for the second major of the year.
Fritz ‘playing horrendous tennis on important points’
Taylor Fritz will now fall below Britain’s Jack Draper in the live rankings [Getty Images]
Earlier, American Fritz lost 12 of the final 16 games in a 7-5 3-6 6-3 6-1 defeat by the German world number 47 Altmaier.
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Fritz, 27, reached the final of last year’s US Open – losing to Sinner in straight sets – but his poor form in 2025 continued on Court Simonne Mathieu.
He will drop out of the top four as a result, with Britain’s Jack Draper moving up a place in the live rankings.
“I think I’m playing generally fine. It’s just I’m playing horrendous tennis on a lot of the important points,” said Fritz.
“All the pressure, important points, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m finding ways to just play the worst point possible.
“Physically, I don’t really feel that bad. For how I’ve been most of this year, I feel good.”
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Altmaier earned the biggest win of his career by ranking to set up a second-round meeting with 86th-ranked Czech player Vit Kopriva.
The 26-year-old broke Fritz’s serve three times as he reeled off the final six games of the match, sealing victory in two hours and 41 minutes.
Fritz reached the French Open fourth round in 2024 but has lost four of his seven matches on clay this year.
Also on Monday, men’s defending champion Carlos Alcaraz made serene progress, beating Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 6-3 6-4 6-2.
Two-time runner-up Casper Ruud avoided any scares, breezing past Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3 6-4 6-2, while 10th seed Holger Rune came back to beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-3 6-2.
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Stefanos Tsitsipas, the beaten finalist in Paris in 2021, also advanced, beating Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5 6-3 6-4.
Etcheverry’s compatriot Francisco Cerundolo, the 18th seed, was also knocked out in a 7-5 6-3 6-4 defeat by world number 54 Gabriel Diallo of Canada.
