Rain played spoilsport on opening day’s play at the Roland Garros 2016 as the play was called off earlier than the schedule.

Nick Kyrgios, the 17th seed, was among the early winners as he overcame a fresh controversy to record a straight-set win here. The Australian star survived a stiff challenge from Italian Marco Cecchinato but held his nerves at crucial junctures to register a 7-6 7-6 6-4 triumph. Kyrgios rode on a powerful first serve, firing as many as 16 aces and smashed 50 winners to cruise into the second round.

Elsewhere in the men’s singles category, 19th seed Benoit Paire of France prevailed 6-2 4-6 6-4 1-6 6-4 over Moldovan Radu Albot in a five-set thriller.

Kvitova Survives Scare

Two-time Grand Slam champion, Petra Kvitova, narrowly managed to keep the upset bug at bay after she scraped past Montenegrin journeywoman Danka Kovinic in the opening round encounter. The way Kvitova cruised in the opening set, it seemed that she would close it out with ease. But, Kovinic put up a stellar fightback to win the second set and pushed her fancied opponent to the wire in the decisive. However, Kvitova had experience by her side, as she clinched a 6-2 4-6 7-5 win.

In the other match up, 11^th seed Lucie Safarova  put up a dominating show to thrash Vitalia Diatchenko 6-0 6-2 to make early progress here.