Paris — Second-seed Alexander Zverev got his French Open title bid off to the perfect start with a 6-1 6-1 6-2 thrashing of Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis on Sunday. The 21-year-old, who arrived at Roland Garros on a hot streak of form after titles in Munich and Madrid before an Italian Open final loss to Rafael Nadal, stormed to victory in only an hour and 10 minutes. Zverev lost in the first round in 2017 to Fernando Verdasco, but the German confidently avoided a repeat and enhanced his credentials as a threat to Nadal’s hopes of an 11th title. The world No3 did not face a single break point in the match and broke his 92nd-ranked opponent’s serve seven times in a totally one-sided contest. Zverev, who has never reached a Grand Slam quarter-final, will meet either Czech Jiri Vesely or Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic in the second round. Venus Williams crashed out 6-4 7-5 to China’s Wang Qiang. The loss marked the first time 2002 runner-up Williams has lost her opening match in Paris since 200...
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