Practice makes perfect.

Taylor Fritz's prioritizing play over practice made for a near flawless Roland Garros start.

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Fritz dismissed a disinterested Bernard Tomic, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1, for his first French Open victory.

While he's pleased with the win, Fritz said he views it more as another step in the development process rather than a big breakthrough.

"I didn't actually realize it was my first one here until they told me afterwards," Fritz said. "I wasn't really thinking about that because I've been doing pretty well so far on the clay."

The 21-year-old American, whose game is predicated on a biting serve and stinging groundstrokes, improved to 8-7 on clay this season.

Fellow Americans continue to fall in Paris— Frances Tiafoe, Tennys Sandgren, Mackenzie McDonald, Steve Johnson, Reilly Opelka, Bradley Klahn and Tommy Paul, who tested 2018 Roland Garros runner-up Dominic Thiem in four sets—all fell at the first hurdle, while Fritz continues his clay-court rise.

The 42nd-ranked Fritz, who enjoyed some clay-court success during his junior days, owns 2019 dirt wins over Grigor Dimitrov, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Diego Schwartzman and Roberto Bautista Agut, who is his second-round Roland Garros opponent.

Grand Slam contenders often skip tournaments the week before a major to avoid fatigue and possible injury.

Fritz opted to play Lyon last week where he beat Bautista Agut to reach the semifinals. He said he prefers match play to practice the week before a Slam for several reasons.

"I think, one, the week before the Slams you have a good chance to go far, especially if you're not, like, a top player," Fritz said. "I understand not playing if you're, like, a favorite to win Roland Garros or to win whatever Slam ahead. Like, I get it. Like, if you're meant to make quarters or do better, then, yeah, don't play the week before.

"But I think it's a good opportunity for a lot of the guys ranked, like, 20 to 80 to pick up points and have a good result, and I personally like playing matches going into the Slam. I don't like doing training weeks and then playing the next week because I think it puts too much emphasis and too much pressure on that tournament that you have taken so much time just preparing for that.

"And it shows, honestly, a lot of people that do training weeks before. They actually don't do that well, I feel like, a lot of times."

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