French Open: Iga Swiatek Paris journey begins with win over Lesia Tsurenko

World no. 1 Iga Swiatek won her first-round match at the 2022 French Open in comfortable fashion against Lesia Tsurenko on Monday. The Pole who won the title here in Paris in 2020 needed just 54 minutes to post a 6-2, 6-0 win.

Swiatek didn’t waste any time and as has become a penchant for her, broke her opponent right in the latter’s first service game. In what seemed like no time, the top seed raced to a 5-1 lead. However, while serving for the set in the seventh game, she was broken by the Ukrainian. The attempt at comeback didn’t last long for Tsurenko though as she lost her serve — and the set — promptly in the following game, after being broken again.

Once she’d the set, Swiatek shut the door of the match on Tsurenko, not conceding a single game thereafter. She did need three match points to close the match in itself but despite that, she never looked to be in any problems whatsoever.

Swiatek hit 20 winners to Tsurenko’s three and had 13 unforced errors to the latter’s 11. She also finished with six forced errors to the latter’s 23. This was Swiatek’s 29th consecutive win.

In the second round, Swiatek will play either Alison Riske or Dayana Yastremska.

French Open: Naomi Osaka exits

Meanwhile, among the other notable results in the initial session of play, 27th seed Amanda Anisimova ousted Naomi Osaka in their first-round clash. The American won 7-5, 6-4 in 90 minutes. Anisimova will play Donna Vekic next.

Petra Kvitova, the 32nd seed, set up a second-round clash against Daria Saville. The Czech won against Anna Bondar, 7-6(0), 6-1. Saville defeated Greek qualifier Valentino Grammatikopoulo 6-1, 6-2 in their first-round match.

Lastly, Andrea Petkovic and Qinwen Zheng also reached the second round of the French Open. The German beat Oceane Dodin 6-4, 6-2 while Zheng got past Maryna Zanevska, 6-3, 6-1.