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New balls? No thank you

Sam Stosur fired eight seven aces in her win over Iveta Benesova © Getty Images

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• News: Ferrer flies past Nieminen as Cilic crashes out
  
• News: Hewitt pulls out of French Open at 11th hour
  
• News: Murray slams ball change
  
• News: Stosur strolls into second round
  
• Profile: Novak Djokovic | David Ferrer | Lleyton Hewitt | Andy Murray | Sam Stosur

Aussie ace
Sam Stosur was handed the honour of opening proceedings on Court Philippe Chatrier and the eighth seed barely broke a sweat as she strolled into the second round, and that was thanks largely to her serve. The Australian slammed seven aces, didn't commit a single double fault and lost just nine points on her first serve. If the Australian can keep those kind of statistics going, you wouldn't bet against another final appearance at Roland Garros.

Spanish armada
David Ferrer has the privilege and misfortune to play in the same era as the King of Clay Rafael Nadal, but despite having only reached the quarter-finals twice, Ferrer is a contender at Roland Garros. Spain is undoubtedly the dominant nation when it comes to clay-court tennis, and there are 14 Spaniards in the men's draw in Paris. Nadal may steal the limelight, but with the world No. 1 not in action until Tuesday, Ferrer took advantage to lead the Spanish charge on the opening day. Ferrer was on red-hot form as he cruised past Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets. He was joined in the second round by Albert Montanes and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, but the result of the day went to Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. The world No. 99, who had lost 13 of his 14 first-round matches at grand slams, produced the first major upset to send Marin Cilic crashing out.

Black ribbon
Alize Cornet delighted the home fans as she enjoyed a first-round win over Renata Vorakova, and it was an emotional victory as she paid tribute to the late Stephane Vidal, coach and fiancé of Virgine Razzano. The 32-year-old died recently of a brain tumour, and Cornet was quick to offer her support to her fellow player, wearing a black ribbon on her dress. "I thought about Stephane and Virginie when I had when I was too much stress [on court], and what they're going through. I thought, I'm so lucky to be here, all this stress on my shoulders. It's so much like nothing at all compared to what happened between them."

No new balls please
Andy Murray has slammed the organisers' decision to switch to the new Babolat balls at the French Open rather than the Dunlop balls, which are used at all the other major clay events. Although the ball travels faster, which suits the Scot's game, he believes the change presents an unnecessary injury risk. "I don't mind the ball but I would just rather we played with the same ball throughout the clay-court stretch and the same throughout the hard-court stretch," Murray said. "I just think for the players' joints, your wrist, elbow and shoulder, it makes sense to stick with the same ball.

Last-minute Lleyton
Injuries have already seen David Nalbandian, Andy Roddick and and Juan Carlos Ferrero withdraw from the French Open - but Hewitt's decision to pull out at the 11th hour is likely to have raised a few eyebrows. The Australian left it until a matter of hours before he was due to play Albert Montanes, who took full advantage of the former world No. 1's absence to rip past lucky loser Marc Gicquel.

Birthday boy
Unbeaten since December, Novak Djokovic enjoyed a day off on his 24th birthday. The Serb, who could be crowned world No. 1 if he reaches the final at Roland Garros, learnt that he would be in good company on Monday when the order of play was published. Djokovic follows defending champion Francesca Schiavone, where he will kick off his French Open campaign against Thiemo de Bakker, while Roger Federer will follow Djokovic onto the court.

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