Defending champ Stan Wawrinka avoids upset in French Open

Defending champ Stan Wawrinka avoids upset in French Open

PARIS — So, Stan Wawrinka was asked, were you aware that in the long history of the French Open, no defending champion ever had lost in the first round?

Sure, by then, it was easy for the 2015 champion at Roland Garros to kid around, because he barely avoided making the sort of history no athlete would embrace.

After returning to the court, Stepanek changed shirts, drawing a warning for wasting time.

There were no bracket-busting stunners, but the surprises included 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic’s 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss to 166th-ranked qualifier Marco Trungelliti of Argentina.

Wawrinka saved both of those break points — Rosol helped matters by missing two backhands — and didn’t face another the rest of the way.

In all, Wawrinka made 46 unforced errors, 17 on the backhand side.