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Stephane Robert celebrates his stunning victory © Getty Images

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The home court hero
Richard Gasquet or Gael Monfils might be the stars of French men's tennis, but on Monday they had to take a backseat to a far less heralded compatriot. 31-year-old journeyman Stephane Robert won just his second ever Grand Slam contest - but in what fashion! - defeating Tomas Berdych in five sets, 3-6 3-6 6-2 6-2 9-7.

It wasn't just the scoreline that was amazing, but the manner he achieved it too - hitting every forehand and backhand imaginable from pretty much every state of balance (or imbalance) a gymnast has ever experienced. The win, when it came, against last year's semi-finalist was greeted with utter euphoria by the watching crowd. And well it might.

It was good to see Berdych maintain his perspective in defeat, too. On his opponent's display: "Obviously he is a guy who really loves to play there. And he just uses it 400 per cent and just plays his best tennis." 400 per cent, eh? That's some serious effort.

Murray not a masterchef
Andy Murray begins his campaign on Tuesday, but it seems he faced his biggest threat on Monday. As he tweeted: "First up tomorrow, early night required... May even stay in and cook for myself however might not play well with an upset stomach!" I guess we'll see how he fared with that spaghetti bolognese recipe tomorrow...

A small slice of luck
Thiemo de Bakker had little to cheer about during his mauling at the hands of No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic, but he cannot say the luck was all against him. Facing a set point, the Dutchman went for a sliced approach in a bid to keep the ball low over the net and force Djokovic to make a pass. He certainly kept the ball low, as it clipped the net jumped up, bounced on the top of the net for a second time before dropping over. Djokovic was unfazed as one point later he thumped a glorious forehand to seal the set.

Fabulous forty
Djokovic went on to win the match, of course, making it a staggering 40 in a row for the on-fire Serbian. He now needs just five more to break John McEnroe's modern era record - and the manner in which he saw off De Bakker (net cords and all) suggests few should bet against him getting much, much closer to that feat.

Learning lessons the hard way
Nothing quite like losing a 5-0 lead in the decisive set of a grand slam match to make or break a young player, so it will be interesting to see how Christina McHale will react to her 6-7(4) 6-2 9-7 defeat to Sara Errani. The early verdict? Tears. Not exactly a great sign for the future.

"I started rushing when she won a couple of games and I felt like it was slipping away and I couldn't stop it," the 19-year-old said through the waterworks. "I just panicked and didn't take my time. I was feeling something in my leg and I wanted to close it out quickly and I stopped thinking and I was just trying to end it. I'm not stunned because I know anything can happen in tennis. But I'm upset and disappointed in myself."

We don't doubt it.

Working through our issues
In fact, Monday appeared to be a day for players to confront their emotions. Aravane Rezai - one of the bright hopes of French tennis - may have lost her opening match at Roland Garros, but she used her post-match press conference to work through some problems in her personal life, after a WTA-Tour investigated argument she had with her coach and father, Arsalan, at the Australian Open earlier in the year.

"Everybody knows that there are problems at the moment," Rezai said. "But I don't want to think about them. What I want is to be stronger every day and to find my own landmarks."

Remarkably upbeat. Presumably she wasn't talking about the Eiffel Tower, though. Surely that would be a little too easy.

Aussie rules... or not
Australia's only male representative this year, Bernard Tomic, was dumped out in straight sets at the hands of Carlos Berlocq. Even Great Britain aren't that bad. Unless Murray's bolognese really was dangerous, of course...

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