29 May 2013 | Tennis Queensland

Sam Stosur blasted her way into the French Open second round with a 6-0 6-2 demolition of Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm on Tuesday.

The Australian ninth seed needed little more than an hour to power to victory against her 42-year-old opponent to ensure a superb start at Roland Garros, her favourite Grand Slam event.

The match started more than two hours late after persistent rain delayed the start of play on day three of the claycourt major. Fellow Queenslander Ashleigh Barty’s match has been delayed till match 1 today also due to rain.

With light rain still falling after the covers came off, Stosur clearly wanted to minimise her time on court and she showed Date-Krumm no mercy from the outset.

The Australian, a runner-up and twice a semifinalist at Roland Garros, is targeting a return to form in Paris after a frustrating year marred by injury and form concerns.

She’s optimistic about going deep into the tournament again, though she’ll need to negotiate a tricky quarter of the draw featuring defending champion Maria Sharapova and fellow top ten player Petra Kvitova.

“I was very pleased with the way I played and the way I started the match,” Stosur said.

“Then, the start of that second set to be able to keep going and really not allow her to feel like she could get into it. I was very pleased with that aspect. I was very happy.”

Stosur will face Kristina Mladenovic in the second round on Thursday, who beat American Lauren Davis 6-0 7-5.

The same was unfortunately not to be for Bernard Tomic who appeared troubled by a right hamstring injury for most of the first-round match, but battled hard in a tight tussle with 54th-ranked Hanescu.

He called it quits after his serve was broken early in the third set to put him behind 7-5 7-6(8) 2-1.

It brought a premature end to his return to the court after a dramatic month, yet Tomic said he’d been able to focus in the lead-up to Roland Garros.

“I’m the type of guy where I can sort of let these things sort of go. I was feeling fine,” he said.

“I mean, the last two weeks I was training well, playing well, didn’t think a lot about it, was not worried. To be honest, I didn’t think about it the last sort of week.

“But then that happened in the match today, and it just, you know, it’s unlucky.”

He led the opening set 3-1, before receiving treatment, and Hanescu fought back to win it 7-5.

Tomic pushed and forced the second set to a tiebreaker before rain halted play for more than an hour, the second delay due to rain for the match.

He was well in the tiebreak when play resumed, unleashing several big winners, but Hanescu edged it 10-8.

Tomic decided he’d had enough after being broken in the third game of the third set, shaking hands with Hanescu before leaving the court.