PARIS – So, Stan Wawrinka was asked, were you aware that in the long history of the French Open, no defending champion has ever lost in the first round?
"No," Wawrinka replied quickly, the hint of a smirk on his scruffy face. After waiting a comedic beat, he added with a chuckle: "And it's still not the case, so it's good."
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. Eventually warming up on a gray, chilly afternoon, and twice coming back from a set down, Wawrinka edged 59th-ranked Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Monday to sneak into the second round.
The start of play on Day 2 of the tournament was delayed until mid-afternoon because of rain. Twelve matches were postponed, and six were suspended in progress.
On Tuesday, second-seeded Andy Murray will try to complete what would be the ninth comeback from a two-set deficit in his career, resuming his first-round match against 128th-ranked Radek Stepanek, a 37-year-old qualifier who is the oldest man in the field. Stepanek took the first two sets 6-3, 6-3, but Murray won the third 6-0 and led the fourth 4-2 when play was stopped because of darkness.
Murray accused his opponent of gamesmanship, complaining to the chair umpire that Stepanek was trying to delay the proceedings.
"How many things can he do to slow the play down?" Murray said after Stepanek headed to the locker room following the third set. He added: "Keep an eye on how long this toilet break is."
There were no bracket-busting stunners on Monday, 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. Four seeded women exited, most notably No. 7 Roberta Vinci, the Italian who ended Serena Williams' Grand Slam bid at last year's U.S. Open.
U.S. winners included No. 23 Jack Sock on the men's side and No. 19 Sloane Stephens on the women's side. Christina McHale failed to make it out of the first round.
Cagla Buyukakcay became the first woman from Turkey to win a main-draw match at a Grand Slam tournament.
