French Open 2016 Results: Winners, Scores, Stats from Tuesday's Singles Bracket

Novak Djokovic progressed to Round 2 of the 2016 French Open after a straight-sets win in the first round at Roland Garros. The world No. 1 will be joined by Andy Murray, who came back from two sets down to eventually see off 37-year-old Radek Stepanek.

Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych were among the other big names who made it through in the men's bracket.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams was ominously impressive, beginning her title defence with a straight-sets win over Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, losing just two games during the match.

David Vincent/Associated Press

But the big news came when fifth seed Victoria Azarenka retired with a knee injury, per the WTA. Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times relayed her statement about the injury:

For the full results from all of Tuesday's matches, visit the official site here.

Recap

To say it took Murray a long time to see off Stepanek would be an understatement. In fact, the Scot needed a whopping three hours, 41 minutes to beat an opponent ranked outside the top 100, according to BBC Sport's Russell Fuller.

Murray expressed his relief after dropping the first two sets and being taken to a second day's play by Stepanek:

But this may be only the start of difficulties at this tournament for Murray. Fuller also noted how the Italian Open winner has been drawn against a tricky opponent in the next round:

A late unforced error ultimately doomed Stepanek, something BBC Kheredine of BBC Scotland found ironic, given the veteran's otherwise stellar showing:

If Murray looked troubled, Djokovic appeared to be at his awesome best against Yen-Hsun Lu. Granted, the first set was far from easy, with Djokovic dropping four games before edging Lu.

But things went easier for the top seed from then on, as he lost only four games the rest of the way. Some impressive numbers backed up Djokovic's dominance on the Philippe-Chatrier Court, per the ATP official site: "The Serb broke Lu seven times and hit 34 winners to 22 unforced errors. He also won nearly twice as many points as Lu, 92-55."

The only player to look as accomplished as Djokovic was Nadal. He surrendered just three games against Sam Groth in a superb display.

Nadal "lost only five points on his serve (40/45), landed 84 per cent of his first serves and hit 25 winners to three unforced errors," according to ATP. He's already won this tournament nine times, but Nadal looked as sharp as ever as he began his pursuit of a 10th victory.

It was a perfect day for Nadal, who also now gets to avoid a potentially stick match in the second round, per Steve Tignor of Tennis.com:

A big win in Round 1 was obviously welcome news for Williams, especially since it took her just 42 minutes to obliterate Rybarikova, according to ESPNTennis. But the bigger news may be how two potentially difficult obstacles were cleared from her challenging path by events out of her control.

The first was Azarenka's injury-enforced retirement that let Karin Knapp progress in an upset. Next, Angelique Kerber added to the misery experienced by winners of the Australian Open at this tournament, per WTA:

Kerber's defeat to Dutch player Kiki Bertens means neither she nor Azarenka will stand in Williams' way. Both players could have featured in Williams' tournament after the draw was made, according to Nick McCarvel of USA Today Sports.

Williams would have already been heavily favoured to retain her title. But a seemingly softer draw to the final only increases her chances, while stacking the odds against the rest.

The big players are currently flexing their muscles at Roland Garros. It means the competition remains fierce in the men's bracket, but it looks like an inevitable procession to another women's title for Williams.