Kuerten secures second round place in Paris

Defending champion Gustavo Kuerten comfortably secured his place in the second round of the French Open with a straight sets win over Switzerland’s Ivo Heuberger.

Kuerten’s bid for a fourth French Open title in six years has been hampered by injury this season, the Brazilian undergoing hip surgery at the end of February this year.

But the 25-year-old had few problems in disposing of Heuberger 7-5 6-2 6-2, interrupted only by the first rain delay of the championships for 45 minutes in the early stages of the third set.

By then Kuerten had established control, winning a hard-fought opening set and taking the second more comfortably as he began to find a good length to his groundstrokes.

Returning after the rain delay leading 2-1, Kuerten - bidding to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win a hat-trick of titles back-to-back - quickly finished off the task.

He will face either Julian Knowle of Austria or Italy’s Davide Sanguinetti in the second round.