Miffed by a line call in his first match as defending French Open champion, Roger Federer quickly regrouped to win the opening set two points later, then went on to beat Peter Luczak of Australia 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 Monday. The top-ranked Federer committed only 11 unforced errors, lost just 14 of 64 points on his serve and faced only one break point. “It's always important coming back as defending champion, trying to get off to a good start,” he said. “It was like a perfect match to get off the French Open campaign.” Fourth-seeded Andy Murray was nearly the first major casualty in the men's draw. The British player had to rally from two sets down for the fourth time in his career to beat Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. In women's play, top-ranked Serena Williams was forced to battle hard in the first set before going on to beat Stefanie Voegele 7-6 (2), 6-2. Williams, who had lost two of her last three matches heading into Roland Garros, used her serve and aggressive returns to pull out the first set. She hit three service winners late in the tiebreaker and finished with 10 aces. It is only the second time in nine years that Federer arrived in Paris without a title during the clay season. But the 16-time Grand Slam champion showed no signs of vulnerability against Luczak, who fell to 0-4 in French Open matches. Williams said she was unhappy with her performance but declined to discuss specifics. “I definitely didn't feel good about it,” she said. “At least I won. I think I'm still in the tournament; that's what matters.” The 12-time Grand Slam champion is seeking her second French Open title and her first since 2002. Third-seeded Novak Djokovic, a two-time semifinalist, beat Evgeny Korolev 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, while Lukas Lacko of Slovakia beat American qualifier Michael Yani 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 12-10, tying the record for the most games in a match at Roland Garros since tiebreakers were introduced in 1973. The match, which resumed Monday at 8-8 in the fifth set after being suspended overnight because of darkness, had 71 games. Three other men's singles matches at Roland Garros have also lasted that length. The overall record is the 83 games played in a match in 1957. With warm temperatures on a second successive cloudless day in Paris, Federer lost his cool for only a moment. Speaking to the chair umpire in French and wagging his index finger, he disputed a line call on a Luczak serve, then waved his arms in disgust as he walked back to the baseline. “He got a bit of a rough call against him, actually,” said Luczak. No. 17 John Isner of the United States lost only 10 points on his serve, never faced a break point and beat Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. No. 15 Tomas Berdych and No. 20 Stanislas Wawrinka also won, but No. 27 Feliciano Lopez lost to Julian Reister 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-2 and No. 21 Tommy Robredo was beaten by Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Also in the women's draw, third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark eased past Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-0, 6-3. Safely through also 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. Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 champion, saw off Taiwan's Kai-Chen Chang 6-3, 6-3 while fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic, twice a semi-finalist, also went through 6-0, 6-4 against experienced Australian Alicia Molik.
