French Open: Federer cruises past Lorenzo Sonego in first round

Roger Federer had an ideal start to his French Open campaign as he defeated Lorenzo Sonego 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round match on Sunday.

The world number three outclassed Sonego in the first-round match that lasted for about an hour and 41 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Federer, who is playing his third tournament on clay this year, looked in an impeccable form on the court, making early moves moving well to force Sonego work hard for every point.

The Swiss tennis legend fired 30 winners and 13 unforced errors in the match and Sonego won just 13 points on the return. He was able to break Federer once but he did not give a serious challenge to such a strong opponent.

As a result of this win, the 37-year-old Federer registered his 343rd Grand Slam win and the 66th in Paris.

Federer won the first two sets reasonably easily and nothing much changed in the third set as well. Federer stood firm in his games, he just had to work harder to forge the lead. He wasted the first four break points before the crucial break at 4-4 with a backhand crosscourt winner to sail into the second round.

Federer will next take on Germany's Oscar Otte in the second-round of the French Open.

Earlier in the day, Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Germany's Maximilian Marterer 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) to progress to the second round of the French Open.

The sixth-seeded Tsitsipas won 17 of his 22 net points and he was able to break the German four times on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Tsitsipas reached his second ATP Masters finals earlier this month in the Madrid Open and he was defeated in the finals by Novak Djokovic.