US Open winner Dominic Thiem navigated a testing first-round French Open tie against former Major champion Marin Cilic while Rafael Nadal began his pursuit of a record-tying 20th men’s Grand Slam title with a straight-sets victory on Monday.
The second seed defeated Egor Gerasimov, the world number 83 from Belarus, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to launch his assault on a 13th French Open title, 15 years after his debut triumph.
“I’m really happy to be back at Chatrier. Thanks to the spectators for being here,” Nadal said. “Hopefully it’ll be back to normal next year and I’ll play in front of the beautiful crowd.”
The Spaniard is appearing for the first time in Paris without a clay title to his credit and skipped the recent US hardcourt swing over Covid-19 concerns. He smacked 32 winners to just 20 unforced errors to down Gerasimov, one of 31 men entered into his first French…