Roger Federer marked his return to Grand Slams after 487 days with a straight sets defeat of Uzbekistan qualifier Denis Istomin while Daniil Medvedev finally won a match at the French Open at the fifth attempt on Monday
The 39-year-old Federer, the champion in Paris in 2009 but playing the event for only the second time since 2015, won 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
It was his eighth win in eight meetings with Istomin and gave him a second round clash against either former US Open winner Marin Cilic or French wild card Arthur Rinderknech.
Federer, who skipped the 2020 tournament, was playing just his fourth match of the year and first at a Slam since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals last year.
“It’s a great pleasure to return. It was important to have some rehabilitation and lots of training,” said Federer, seeded eighth.
Russian second seed Medvedev beat Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 as he looks to take advantage of being in the opposite…
