Paris, May 26:

Roger Federer made a winning return to the French Open, the only Grand Slam title that has eluded him.

The top-ranked Federer beat Sam Querrey of the United States 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 Monday in the first round at Roland Garros, where the 12-time major champion is trying to become only the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam.

On the women’s side, No 3 Jelena Jankovic and No 8 Venus Williams advanced. Williams joined sister Serena in the second round, but she struggled in the second set before beating Tzipora Obziler of Israel 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. The third-seeded Jankovic beat Monica Niculescu 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Anastasia Pavlyuch-enkova of Russia, the youngest person in the singles tournament at 16, reached the second round by beating Maria Emilia Salerni of Argentina 6-1, 6-1. No 10 Patty Schnyder, No 12 Agnes Szavay and No 32 Karin Knapp also advanced, while No 23 Alona Bondarenko lost to Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 6-0.

Richard Gasquet withdrew from the French Open because of a left knee injury. The eighth-seeded Frenchman pulled out shortly before he was scheduled to play Florent Serra. Santiago Giraldo of Colombia replaced Gasquet in the draw, and lost to Serra 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

No 17 Marco Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, lost to Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round. Baghdatis was returning to the game after more than a month off for personal reasons. Tommy Robredo, the 12th-seeded player, beat 2004 French Open finalist Guillermo Coria 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

Coria was playing at Roland Garros for the first time in three years. He missed much of the past two seasons with shoulder injury and had played in only four tour-level events since the 2006 US Open. No 29 Guillermo Canas also lost to Wayne Odesnik of the US 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8), while No 11 Tomas Berdych, No 22 Fernando Verdasco and No 24 Fernando Gonzalez advanced.