Paris (AFP)

World No.1 Naomi Osaka flirted very closely with the defeat on Tuesday, and Germany's Alexander Zverev, 5th in the world, rowed for 5 sets and more than 4 hours: the two headliners came out but had trouble for their entry to the competition at Roland Garros.

. Alexander Zverev, not even that

The German, fallen from the 3rd to the 5th place in the world, is having trouble this season, unable to regain the level that had brought him last season. His title in Geneva just before Roland Garros, the only thinning of his season, where he did not beat a player ranked higher than 71, obviously did not help to sweep his crisis of confidence.

Facing Australian John Millman, 46th in the world, who had released Roger Federer in the last round of the last US Open, the problems of the spearhead of the NextGen did not evaporate.

Alternating good runs, but also very bad, Zverev, a quarter finalist here last season - his best result in Grand Slam - rowed almost the entire match, even if he led with two sets ahead of time . But he finally came out after 5 sets, signing with 4:08 the longest match of the first round. And this is the only satisfaction to be drawn from this match.

"Today was tough, the most important thing is that I'm still in the tournament, and that's all that matters", the German has perfectly analyzed.

"Everybody says that I'm going through a difficult year, but I mean, I'm still world No. 5. And you know how much I'm in the Race?" 10th. It's not that bad to be honest. " he nuanced, however. He should know a second round a priori quieter against a player from qualifications, the Swede Mikael Ymer (148).

. Del Potro, slowly but surely

It took him a set to get in it. Against the Chilean Nicolas Jarry (58), the eternal returning, who has just returned to the circuit in early May after seven months of absence, managed to erase the false start and then unroll his tennis 3-6, 6-2, 6 -1, 6-4.

"The playing conditions were very difficult, it was windy, it was raining a bit ... I did not have much energy at first, then I took control of the match and I played better", commented "Delpo". A rather encouraging start for the Argentine, quarter-finalist in Rome, and always dangerous.

Other attraction of the day, the winner of Monte-Carlo Fabio Fognini, who has never been ranked (11th) before Roland Garros, qualified him by letting go a set against his compatriot Andreas Seppi 6-3 , 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. A victory and a status that does not change the Italian. "I am what I am, always the same," he replied, questioned about his possibilities this year at Roland Garros. Understood, unpredictable.

. Old people are resisting

A petit event, passed somewhat under the radars of Roland Garros. The first game of the day on court N.6 between Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic, 40, and Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 37, could have taken place on the senior tour. This was the "oldest" match played at Porte d'Auteuil. The huge Karlovic won 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 6-7 (7/9), 7-5.

. Osaka has to very hot

The world N.1 has not yet visibly not found the right setting. The Japanese, who won the last two Grand Slam tournaments (US Open and Australian Open), was very scared in a seemingly easy match against the 90th world, the Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Transparent in the first set, lost 6-0 in almost 20 minutes, the world N.1, whose place of N.1 is threatened Porte d'Auteuil (by Kiki Bertens and Karolina Pliskova, Ed), has been looking very far to avoid a shipwreck. At two points of the elimination in the second set, she finally eradicated from the molasses in extremis 0-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. A lesson to remember. Especially in the second round she will find a client: the ex-world N.1 Victoria Azarenka, semi-finalist Porte d'Auteuil in 2013, who released the 2017 laureate, the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7- 6 (7/4). A second round very dangerous for Osaka.

? 2019 AFP