French Open: Wawrinka says emotional farewell as De Minaur and Jodar progress

Alex De Minaur eased into the second round of the French Open on Monday and was joined by main-draw debutant Rafael Jodar, but there was no such luck for Stan Wawrinka on his Roland-Garros swansong.

De Minaur defeated British qualifier Toby Samuel 6-4 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 54 minutes, casting aside the poor form that had characterised the start of his clay-court season.

The seventh seed, who fell at the first hurdle at both the Madrid Open and the Italian Open, outwitted the big-serving Samuel with his superior movement in baking conditions.

A solitary break in game five was enough to get the Australian through the opening set, and though the second saw an early exchange of breaks, he got another in game seven and then served it out comfortably.

Samuel was clearly wilting by the third set, and De Minaur took advantage by reeling off the final five games for the loss of only four points, teeing up a second-round meeting with Alexander Blockx.

Jodar, who swept De Minaur aside with ease at the Madrid Open, marked his main-draw debut at Roland-Garros with a dominant 6-1 6-0 6-4 victory over Aleksandar Kovacevic.

The 19-year-old Spaniard, who is seeded 29th for the second slam of the year after starting the year as the world number 168, is now 16-3 on clay in 2026.

His five games dropped against Kovacevic were the fewest by any player in their first main-draw match at Roland-Garros since Novak Djokovic in 2005 (three versus Robby Ginepri). He will face Australia's James Duckworth in the next round.

At the other end of the age spectrum, 2015 Roland-Garros champion Wawrinka said farewell to the event following a spirited 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat to Jesper De Jong.

The 41-year-old rolled back the years to win the second set and threatened to force a decider when he found a second wind in the third.

But after giving up a break in the ninth game, Wawrinka missed an opportunity to break back in the next and De Jong produced a wonderful lob on match point to seal the deal.

There was an emotional tribute video to Wawrinka shown after the match, and he received a standing ovation as he said goodbye to the slam for the final time ahead of his retirement later this year.

Roland-Garros legend says goodbye

In his 21st appearance at the event, Wawrinka played his 66th and final match at the French Open, the sixth-most of any male player in the Open Era.

Only Djokovic (119), Rafael Nadal (116), Roger Federer (90), Guillermo Vilas (74) and Andre Agassi (67) played more matches at the event than Wawrinka, who memorably fought back to defeat Djokovic in four sets in the 2015 final.