• French Open, Day Three

What They Said: Watson experiences Parisien love

ESPN staff
May 29, 2012

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Men's round-up: Nadal does the job
Murray eventually puts Ito away
Watson wins opening bout with Vesnina
Women's round-up: Maria wins every game

Day Two Gallery
Plays of the Day

Heather Watson was delighted to win her second successive first round match at the tournament, booking a second round contest against Julia Goerges. She said: "I've been playing very well in practice and I thought to myself I'd just bring what I'm doing in practice. I love it here, I love playing so I thought I'd just take advantage of it and do the best I can. I was very relaxed, I qualified and won a round last year and I remember in my first match I let the nerves get to me a bit. I've grown as a person since then and was able to control the nerves better."

Rafael Nadal is bidding to win his seventh French Open title in eight appearances, and admitted the pressure of expectation is causing him some issues as he opened with a win over Simone Bolelli: "All matches are always difficult - the more so here, as you are a bit more nervous. It's not easy to get your bearings right off as the court is big and it's difficult out there. But I'm always happy to play here - it's an incredible feeling."

Andy Murray refused to show concern over any part of his game despite finding himself in danger of losing the second set in his win over Tatsuma Ito: "It was good, I played one bad game on serve to let him back in but everything else was pretty good. The second set could have been more comfortable, but I obviously played a bad game."

Serena Williams pointed the finger of blame at herself after she was stunned in the first round by Virginie Razzano: "I made so many errors, which hasn't been the game I've been playing. I was definitely nervous, which I think is healthy, but there are no excuses."

Janko Tipsarevic survived a testing first round encounter with Sam Querrey, who romped through the first set before being ground down by the Serb 2-6 6-4 7-6 6-3: "He was playing out of his mind, hitting winners from everywhere," Tipsarevic said. "All credit to him. Everything was going in. I'm happy that I managed to stay positive, stay quiet, not really talking too much when somebody is killing me on the court like he did in the first set."

Tipsarevic will face Richard Gasquet in the second round, one of 13 Frenchmen to come through their opening matches. The No. 17 seed beat Estonian qualifier and World No. 103 Jurgen Zopp 6-3 6-4 7-6: "I didn't know him at all," said Gasquet. "He's a strong hitter, he was serving well. [The] surface was fast with the sun and I think I played well. It was not easy. I could have lost one set, either the second one or the third one. The first match on the Central Court, it's always like this. It's always difficult. You have to know how to play. He was playing well. I'd say it's a good match for me."

Grigor Dimitrov, who is based just outside Paris, won his first main draw match at Roland Garros, beating American Donald Young 7-6 6-1 6-1 and admitted it felt special to win his first match at the French. When asked what made Roland Garros unique among the majors, the Bulgarian couldn't resist: "It's on clay courts! I think first of all the place is great. There's tons of people attending the tournament. People are appreciating this tournament a lot. I think it's always a special place. It's the summer so everyone is feeling quite well, everyone's been practising and in the rhythm."

Maria Sharapova progressed after a 6-0 6-0 win against Alexandra Cadantu. She said: "No matter how good or bad they're playing, you still have to win that match. It's always about who takes their chances."

On her French Open debut, Cadantu enjoyed the experience despite the defeat. She noted: "For me, to have that big crowd, it was a lot. I enjoyed it a lot."

Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty was beaten comfortable by Petra Kvitova, in a learning experience for the 2011 Wimbledon junior champion. She said: "It was tough out there today. I didn't play my best tennis, but she didn't allow me to. I was out there giving it my all, but unfortunately just didn't come out on top today."

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