Elena Rybakina opened her 2023 French Open with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Czech qualifier, Brenda Fruhvirtova. The Kazakh completed the match in an hour and 21 minutes.
Earlier in the day, another 16-year-old qualifier, Mirra Andreeva had made a solid start for herself as she took out Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-2, 6-1 in merely 56 minutes to start the day in Paris. However, while she did her best against Rybakina and even played without any timidness across the match, Fruhvirtova was let down by her error-prone game.
French Open: Elena Rybakina finds a wayÂ
On her own game, Rybakina, too, struggled to rein in her serve although she was able to extricate herself in the end, out of trouble. The Rome Open winner faced seven break points in total but saved five of these. She did convert five of eight break points that came her way on her rival’s serve.
Rybakina also had thrice as many winners as Fruhvirtova’s 11. The 23-year-old finished with four more unforced errors to Fruhvirtova’s 22.
In the second round, Rybakina will play another Czech teen in Linda Noskova. Noskova won her first-round match against Danka Kovinic who retired while trailing Noskova 6-3, 2-1.
Earlier, Ons Jabeur made a strong start for herself in the French Major. The Tunisian seventh seed beat Lucia Bronzetti, who won the title in Rabat the previous Saturday. After an hour and 10 minutes, Jabeur won 6-4, 6-1. The 28-year-old did serve for the match in the second set at 5-0 but was broken. The Italian, however, couldn’t consolidate the break and Jabeur broke convincingly en route to a win.
Coco Gauff, who’s defending finalist’s points at the 2023 French Open, was made to work in her opener. The sixth-seeded American took an hour and 46 minutes to wrap up a comeback victory for herself, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
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