daniel chigunwe
Czech eighth seed Karolina Pliskova and 2018 champion Simona Halep survived scares to book their place in the second round at the French Open.
Pliskova battled from a set and a break down against French wildcard Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, winning 2-6 6-3 6-1.
Former world number one Halep dropped the second set to Germany’s Nastasja Schunk but prevailed 6-4 1-6 6-1.
Spain’s Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, seeded third and seventh, also progressed.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Halep has said she rediscovered her “fire” working with new coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who spent a decade alongside Serena Williams, but the Romanian was broken early against lucky loser Schunk.
While she regained her composure to take the first set, her 18-year-old opponent forced a decider in impressive fashion, winning 71% of her first-service points in the second.
But it was Halep, who withdrew from the 2021 French Open because of injury, who produced a dominant service display in the third to ruthlessly extinguish Schunk’s hopes of an upset.
Sabalenka also laboured to victory as the former world number two recovered from going a set and a break down to beat France’s Chloe Paquet 2-6 6-3 6-4.
But while Pliskova, Halep and Sabalenka all overcame blips, world number four Badosa looked back to her best as she despatched France’s Fiona Ferro 6-2 6-0 in 54 minutes.
But having suffered a dip in form with early exits in Rome and Madrid earlier this month, the 24-year-old admitted to having felt the pressure to deliver on Court Philippe Chatrier.
“Every minute on court counts, and every win counts, and it helps you build your confidence again,” said Badosa, who will next face Slovenia’s world number 68 Kaja Juvan.
“I’m happy that I could win and that I have another opportunity to be better the next day.
I’m happy that nobody noticed how nervous I was on court, because to be honest, I was really nervous.”
Badosa, who broke into the world’s top 10 last year, is joined in the next round by ninth seed Danielle Collins after the American beat Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-0 6-4.
Meanwhile, Latvian former champion Jelena Ostapenko beat Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti 6-1 6-4 to progress, while American Madison Keys came back from a break down in the deciding set to defeat Anna Kalinskaya 6-3 3-6 6-4. – BBC Sport
Online Reporter