French Open diary day one: Dominic Thiem starts as he means to go on while Petra Kvitova's return warms the heart

The first day of the 2017 French Open completely delivered when it came to breathtaking performances, big upsets and poignant returns.

The action began with Petra Kvitova making a winning return to the top-level of tennis and didn't let up from there.

Here, we round-up an exciting start to the second Grand Slam of the season.

We also preview Monday's action.

The hero of day one

Who else? Shortly before Christmas, the popular two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova announced that she was “lucky to be alive” after a burglar broke into her home in the Czech Republic and stabbed her on all four fingers on her left hand — her playing hand. Kvitova was told by her doctor that she would be lucky to take to the court again.

Less than six months later, and Kvitova was back not only playing, but winning. The 27-year-old looked mightily impressive in the first match of the day on Court Philippe Chatrier, beating the American Julia Boserup 6-3 6-2.

Kvitova, who was watched on by her parents Jiri and Pavla and brothers Jiri and Libor, couldn't help but burst into tears after her victory. “Thank you for everything, you helped me through this difficult time,” she said after her win. “I'm glad with how I played. There are a few things to improve but what can I expect after such a long time.”

Upset of the day

Cagla Buyukakcay’s straight-sets victory over Australian Open semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni certainly deserves a mention, but it’s impossible to look beyond Angelique Kerber’s opening day defeat to Ekaterina Makarova.

Yes, the powerful Makanrova is a former Roland-Garros and US Open champion and, yes, Kerber is the first person to admit that her clay court game leaves a lot to be desired. But those facts pale into comparison compared with this next one: on Sunday, Kerber became the first women's top seed in the history of the tournament to lose in the very first round.

What’s more, it wasn’t even close. Kerber lost 6-2 6-2 in less than an hour and a half on Philippe Chatrier Court, with her weak serve constantly exposed by the aggressive Makarova. The German’s World No 1 ranking now hangs precariously in the balance.

Performance of the day

Dominic Thiem reached the semi-finals here last year, and his brisk opening win against Australian bad boy Bernard Tomic illustrated just why many spectators are tipping him to better that performance this season.

There’s no getting away from the fact that Tomic isn’t playing well, and his tactic of hitting attempted winners from every part of the court backfired pretty spectacularly in Sunday’s sweltering heat: the Aussie made 33 unforced errors to Thiem's 10.

Even so, Thiem was in truly superb form, brushing aside the former World No 17 6-4 6-0 6-2. The highlight of his performance was a point in the third set, where he somehow managed to survive a cute Tomic drop shot as well as a smash at the net to rifle a cross-court winner past his bewildered opponent. Even Tomic turned and applauded.

But don't just take our word for it!

Brit watch

As expected, Great Britain’s Dan Evans didn’t last very long in his first time in the French Open main draw. The British number four began well enough, breaking twice early on against the Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo to take the first set 7-5. But it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see him struggle as the match went on, eventually losing 5-7 6-4 6-3 6-1.

Evans deserves praise for his performance, however. For while the wily Robredo is a four-time French Open quarter-finalist, Evans had never before won an ATP Tour match on clay until this season. The red stuff will never be his surface of choice but at least now he is competitive on it; he remains in Paris for the doubles.

There’s only one Brit scheduled for some action on Monday: Aljaz Bedene is up against the American Ryan Harrison on Court No 3. Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund and Jo Konta all begin their respective campaigns on Tuesday.

Quote of the day

“I can’t breathe. I feel like I’m running on a treadmill for the whole f***ing game”.

Dan Evans feels the heat during his first round loss to Tommy Robredo.

Stat attack

20: Venus Williams narrowly beat China’s Wang Qiang 6-4 7-6 (3) in her first round match. It was her 20th appearance in the singles draw at Roland-Garros, a record for any female player.

Today’s results

To follow upon the conclusion of play.

What to look forward to tomorrow…

• Great Britain’s Aljaz Bedene takes on Ryan Harrison early doors.

• Defending champion Garbine Muguruza faces a nightmare opening draw against 2010 winner Francesca Schiavone.

• Dark horse Kiki Bertens plays Ajla Tomljanović, in the latter’s first Grand Slam since last year’s Aussie Open.

• Pre-tournament favourites Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic get their campaigns away.

Monday’s order of play

Order of play for Monday 29th May 2017, (All times local, +1 hour from BST)

Philippe-Chatrier Court

11:00: (4) Garbine Muguruza (Spa) v Francesca Schiavone (Ita), Marcel Granollers (Spa) v (2) Novak Djokovic (Ser), Jennifer Brady (USA) v (13) Kristina Mladenovic (Fra), (9) Alexander Zverev (Ger) v Fernando Verdasco (Spa)

Suzanne-Lenglen Court

11:00: (11) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) v Jaimee Fourlis (Aus), Benoit Paire (Fra) v (4) Rafael Nadal (Spa), Saisai Zheng (Chn) v (2) Karolina Pliskova (Cze), (24) Richard Gasquet (Fra) v Arthur De Greef (Bel)

Court 1

11:00: (31) Gilles Simon (Fra) v Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo), Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) v (10) David Goffin (Bel), (23) Samantha Stosur (Aus) v Kristina Kucova (Svk), Irina Khromacheva (Rus) v Pauline Parmentier (Fra)

Court 2

11:00: (5) Milos Raonic (Can) v Steve Darcis (Bel), Ajla Tomljanovic (Cro) v (18) Kiki Bertens (Ned), Ernests Gulbis (Lat) v (7) Marin Cilic (Cro), Alize Lim (Fra) v Magda Linette (Pol)

Court 3

11:00: Aljaz Bedene (Gbr) v Ryan Harrison (USA), Elise Mertens (Bel) v (24) Daria Gavrilova (Aus), Sara Errani (Ita) v Misaki Doi (Jpn), Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) v Jared Donaldson (USA)

Court 4

11:00: Anett Kontaveit (Est) v Monica Niculescu (Rom), Catherine Cartan Bellis (USA) v Quirine Lemoine (Ned), Konstantin Kravchuk (Rus) v Federico Del Bonis (Arg), Varvara Lepchenko (USA) v Andrea Petkovic (Ger)

Court 5

11:00: Viktor Troicki (Ser) v Evgeny Donskoy (Rus), Rogerio Dutra Silva (Bra) v Mikhail Youzhny (Rus), (25) Lauren Davis (USA) v Carina Witthoeft (Ger)

Court 6

11:00: Myrtille Georges (Fra) v (27) Yulia Putintseva (Kaz), Simone Bolelli (Ita) v Nicolas Mahut (Fra), Maxime Hamou (Fra) v (22) Pablo Cuevas (Uru), (14) Elena Vesnina (Rus) v Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra)

Court 8

11:00: Jelena Jankovic (Ser) v Richel Hogenkamp (Ned), Johanna Larsson (Swe) v Natalia Vikhlyantseva (Rus), Santiago Giraldo (Col) v Andreas Seppi (Ita), Mariana Duque-Marino (Col) v Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom)

Court 10

11:00: Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) v Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr), Danka Kovinic (Mne) v (29) Ana Konjuh (Cro), Teymuraz Gabashvili (Rus) v Victor Estrella Burgos (Dom)

Court 14

11:00: (14) Jack Sock (USA) v Jiri Vesely (Cze), Mathias Bourgue (Fra) v Borna Coric (Cro), Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) v Mandy Minella (Lux), Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) v (19) Coco Vandeweghe (USA)

Court 15

11:00: Andrey Rublev (Rus) v Diego Sebastian Schwartzman (Arg), Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rus) v Katerina Siniakova (Cze), Damir Dzumhur (Bih) v Nicolas Kicker (Arg)

Court 16

11:00: (32) Shuai Zhang (Chn) v Donna Vekic (Cro), (32) Mischa Zverev (Ger) v Stefano Napolitano (Ita), (16) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) v Patricia Maria Tig (Rom), Frances Tiafoe (USA) v (28) Fabio Fognini (Ita)

Court 17

11:00: John Millman (Aus) v (17) Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa), Francoise Abanda (Can) v Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (Fra), (30) David Ferrer (Spa) v Donald Young (USA), Veronica Cepede Royg (Par) v Lucie Safarova (Cze)

Court 18

11:00: Ons Jabeur (Tun) v Ana Bogdan (Rom), Joao Sousa (Por) v Janko Tipsarevic (Ser), Feliciano Lopez (Spa) v Bjorn Fratangelo (USA)