Two of the main seeds of Roland Garros, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and the Russian Andrey Rublev showed irregularity and lost a set during their debut in the French tournament, this Sunday, in Paris. Among the women, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and American Jessica Pegula had no trouble confirming their favouritism.
Fifth pre-classified and vice-champion in 2021, Tsitsipas defeated the Czech Jiri Vesely with the score of 3 sets to 1, with partials of 7/5, 6/3, 4/6 and 7/6 (9/7 ). The Greek had to stay on the pitch for 3h16min. In the second round, Tsitsipas will face Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, who beat American Emilio Nava 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-2.
Rublev, seeded number seven, qualified by beating Serbian Laslo Djere 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Winner of the Montecarlo Masters 1000, in Monaco, last month, the Russian tennis player will now face local tennis player Corentin Moutet, who beat his compatriot Arthur Cazaux by 6/1, 6/3, 4/6 and 6 this Sunday/4.
In addition to the Greek and the Russian, the following seeds also qualified for the second round this Sunday: the Russian Karen Khachanov (11th), the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (13th), the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (17th) and the American Sebastian Korda (24th). Briton Daniel Evans (20th) and American Ben Shelton (30th) were both eliminated in the first round of the French Grand Slam.
Among the women, the current world number two started with a quiet victory. Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka defeated Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 6/3 6/2. Her next opponent will be her compatriot Iryna Shymanovich, who qualified by eliminating Hungary’s Panna Udvardy 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1.
American Jessica Pegula faced a rival from the same country in the first. And she beat Danielle Collins in straight sets, with partials of 6/4 and 6/2. The third seed will now face Italian Camila Giorgi, who eliminated experienced hosts Alize Cornet 6-3 6-4.
The women’s bracket had the biggest disappointment of the day. Eighth-seeded Greek Maria Sakkari bid farewell to Roland Garros early after being beaten by Czech Karolina Muchova 7/6 (7/5) and 7/5. Another pre-seeded to say goodbye was Polish Magda Linette (21st), beaten by Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez by 6/3, 1/6 and 6/3.
The other seeds won during the day, including China’s Zheng Qinwen (19th), Belgium’s Elise Mertens (28th), Russia’s Anastasia Potapova (24th) and Liudmila Samsonova (15th) and Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu ( 27th).
