Just as he did at Wimbledon two years ago when he triumphed from two sets down, fourth seed Murray weathered Gasquet's storm and surged back to win 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 in just over four hours in the cauldron of Suzanne Lenglen Court.
Gasquet missed his home Slam in 2008 through injury and last year because of a doping ban that was later rescinded, but the former world number seven arrived here with high hopes after winning the warm-up event in Nice last week.
The 23-year-old was at his majestic best as he built a two-set lead with some stupendous shot-making but Murray, a quarterfinalist here last year, hung in and the match quickly turned in his favour as a tiring Gasquet ran out of steam.
Serena Williams, meanwhile, wore the first of seven dresses, but her first-round match proved no catwalk as the world number one stuttered past Swiss Stefanie Voegele 7-6, 6-2.
The 2002 Paris champion stooped and clenched her fist as she saw off three break points en route to a 7-2 win in the first set tie-break after struggling to break her opponent's serve.
World number 76 Voegele, egged on by the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier, lost her composure in the second set as Serena ended the contest with a routine volley after an hour and 21 minutes.
Ea
sy for Federer
Top seed and defending champion Roger Federer began his campaign for a 17th Grand Slam title with a comfortable 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over Australia’s Peter Luczak.
Federer, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning his first Roland Garros crown here in 2009, will face Colombia’s Alejandro Falla for a place in the last 32.
The Swiss star was barely troubled by the 71st-ranked Luczak, who has never won a match at the French Open in four attempts.
After wrapping up the first set, Federer secured breaks in the fourth and sixth games of the second, as 30-year-old Luczak ran out of steam on another sweltering day in Paris where temperatures nudged 30 degrees.
Two more breaks followed in the fifth and seventh games of the third set with the match wrapped up after one hour and 48 minutes, courtesy of a razor-sharp Federer backhand.
Despite the win, Federer, playing in his 42nd successive Grand Slam event, refused to look forward to a fourth Roland Garros final against old rival Rafael Nadal.
“He’s in great form, but I’m just looking at my draw. The final hasn’t happened yet,” said Federer, who has yet to win a claycourt title this season.
Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, the 27th seed, was the day’s biggest early casualty, losing to German qualifier Julian Reister, the world 165, in straight sets.
Caroline Wozniacki, leading the chasing pack in pursuit of the Williams sisters, shrugged off ankle injury concerns to sweep into the women’s second round.
The 19-year-old Dane reeled off the first seven games of the match before clinching a 6-0, 6-3 win over Russian world 78 Alla Kudryavtseva, the 69-minute victory proving a crucial confidence-booster for the third seed.
Jelena Dokic, now a member of the women’s tour seniors club, slumped to a dispiriting first-round exit. The 27-year-old Australian went down to a 6-2, 6-2 defeat against Czech 24th seed Lucie Safarova.
Also safely through is Chinese number one Li Na, the 11th seed, who defeated last year’s junior champion Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-5, 6-3, while Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva beat Petra Martic of Croatia 6-1, 6-1.
Agencies
