Williams Sisters, Federer And Tsonga Make It 2nd Round

'Federer off on a fine start, Serena cruises past easily.'

The French open served off yesterday with some nerve racking and fiery games between the best in the game.

Former Champion Roger Federer spent as little time as possible on the opening day of the championship as he outplayed Lukas Lacko of SLovakia in just 84 minutes to claim an easy straight-sets win over the Slovak in the first round at Roland Garros.

Federer who has 17 Grand Slam titles to his name was barely stretched in the game as he cruised on to a stunning of 6-2 6-4 6-2 advantage over the 26 year old player player in Paris. Lacko could not match up to the fire power of the 32 year-old who was cheered by his wife and twin daughters from the stands.

In the opening women game of the day, No. 1 Serena William saw of her game against home player Alize Lim. The French girl was not able to withstand the American who just had to find time for a 6-2 6-1 win over the 23 year-old. Serena who is the current French open Champion is tipped as favourite to retain the women's title this year.

The younger Williams however did not find it smooth in the game, she recorded 23 unforced errors in the first set, which allowed Lim to break two points in the fifth game, even with the break, the French favourite could not contain the continuous barrage of powering shorts by the American.

Venus Williams at age 33 overcame 17 year old Belind Bencic with a 6-4 6-1 win in the first round. Belinda Bencic could only  manage the strength of her age over that and experience of the older Williams sisters.

Venus said after the win over the Slovak born Swiss based Bencic who is also coached by the mother of former Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis.

In the other games, 15th seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny break away from two sets down to beat Pablo Carreno of Spain 3-6 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-0: Czech Radek Stepanek beat Facundo Argueello of Argentina 6-7 (8) 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-2.

Tomas Berdych beat Canadian Peter Polansky in straight sets of 6-3 6-4 6-4 while Joe Wilfried Tsonga beat fellow Frenchman Roger Vasselin 7-6 7-5 6-2. In another Women's game, Agnieszka Radwanska beat China's Shuai Zhang.

"I think it was a very wet court. I think the courts are not always dry, it's raining every day, so it makes the courts much slower," Radwanska. Every two-set match is great in a two-week tournament. It's important that I spent only one hour on court." Radwanska told the media after her win.

All the winners qualify for the second round in wait for their opponents who will be decided in today games.