The French Open
Roland Garros Women’s Day 3
Iga Swiatek handed herself an early 22nd birthday present on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-0 beatdown of Spain’s Cristina Busca to begin her French Open title defence in solid form.
The world No. 1 could become the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to successfully defend a Roland Garros title.
Swiatek came into the second major of the season with doubts on her fitness after skipping Rome to recover,
But the Pole silenced the doubters in 75 minutes.
Swiatek has won three of the past 11 Grand Slams as she takes a tighter grip on overall long-term superiority.
The three-time champion at the majors owns a 29-6 record this season; she has won 19 of her past 20 matches here.
““For sure first rounds are tricky, especially the first set,” she said. “I don’t remember playing in such windy conditions here, maybe three years ago.
“I needed to adjust to that and work on my footwork.
“But I’m happy that I broke through it, and I was able to play better in the second set.”
Fourth-seeded Rome champion Elena Rybakina quickly dispatched 16-year-old Czech qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-4, 6-2 as the youngster played in only her second main draw at a major.
2022 runner-up Coco Gauff needed a comeback to move safely through in her opener, defeating Spain’s Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The American sixth seed eventually triumphed in a re-run of January’s Auckland final, which she also won.
Gauff now stands 13-2 in Grand Slam first-round matches.
Double Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur reached the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, ranked 65th.
The seventh-seeded Tunisian winner won her 25th match on clay over the past two seasons, standing just behind Iga Swiatek in that statistical category.
“It wasn’t an easy round, for sure, but I tried my best to win in two sets,” Jabeur said.
“Obviously I’m trying to get back to my level 100 per cent (after injury); I think that will come match by match and by playing more matches.
“Every first round is very difficult in a Grand Slam.
“I was pretty stressed, I’ve got to say, but I was just trying to play my game. The most important thing for me was to feel healthy and to move well on the court.”
Rome finalist Anhelina Kalinina ran out of luck in Paris as the Ukrainian lost 6-2, 6-3 to French wild card Diane Perry.
Kalinina, the tournament No. 25, was seeded for the second time at a major.
Perry, ranked 79, earned an upset here a year ago when she beat holder Barbora Krejcikova in the first round.
The Czech who won the 2021 trophy suffered a first round exit here for the second straight edition as she was ousted 6-2, 6-4 by Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine.
The seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion went down in 89 minutes with 32 unforced errors – more than twice as many as her opponent.
Teenaged Mirra Andreeva schooled a veteran twice her age in her career Grand Slam debut. defeating Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-2, 6- 1 in less than an hour.
The youngster who qualified into the Paris field after reaching the Madrid fourth round is taking each match on its own, leaving the big-picture planning to her coaches.
“It feels amazing for me. I’m really excited that I managed to win this match after
passing the qualies draw.
“Of course, I’m really happy and I’m looking forward to playing the next round,” said the player who has not lost a set so far in four matches here.
“Last year I was here as a junior, I couldn’t even imagine that I can be here playing the women’s tournament here and being in a major after passing qualification.”
Main photo:- Iga Swiatek wins first round match by Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd
Alexander Zverev on Thursday made a long-sought after return to the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, booking his first final four at the event since 2019, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
The 2027 year-end No. 1 last got this far as the Covid pandemic began to surface in China in 2019. The event was not played 2020-2022, with the German making modest progress here over the past three editions since resumption.
After winning his 62nd match of the season, the 29-year-old was pleased with his performance.
“I think it was a huge step up. From just being on the court I felt both of us were playing really well.
“I was, a lot of the time, outhitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here.
“I felt good and I’m happy with the step up from the past couple of matches.”
Zverev advanced in 78 minutes, sending over 10 aces as he defeated the Australian for the ninth time in their 13 matches.
Added the reigning Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows Grand Slam champion: “I’ve been handling pressure quite okay this year. In a way you play a bit more relaxed.
“Once Jannik (SInner) unfortunately announced he won’t play for the rest of the year, I’m 4,000 points ahead of everyone else, so I trust myself enough that I’m going to win [enough matches].
Zverev will play for the final to wrap up the Asian swing as he takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced when Arthur Gea quit their quarter-final with injury.
Alexander Zverev will claim world year-end No. 1 honours for the first time on the back of two Grand Slam titles and a final this season.,
The ATP confirmed the changing of the guard as current No. 1 Jannik Sinner ended his season early last week due to a knee injury which has kept him off court since winning Wimbledon three months ago.
Zverev won Roland Garros and US Open trophies and lost to Sinner in the All England Club final.
His reign at the top will begin after the ATP Final in Turin with the ranking period starting on November 23.
Zverev will be 29 years, 217 days old on the date, three days older than Andre Agassi in 1999 (29 years, 214 days).
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev by ISF Ltd
Zheng Qinwen continued an injury comeback season on Sunday, defeating Roland Garros winner Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 to win the China Open.
Victory at the 1000-level event was the first trophy for the 54th-raked Chinese player who once reached fourth in the world before elbow surgery.
Zheng saved three set points in the opening set and claimed victory by winning the last 11 points of the set, breaking late in the second to conclude her success over her teenaged opponent.
The winner now owns six career trophies after winning her first 1000; she last claimed a title in Tokyo two years ago.
In an odd twist, the new winner was cajoled into singing a few bars of karaoke during the trophy ceremony.
She will now move back into the ranking top 25 while Andreeva advances to third in the world behind Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka after defeating her third top 10 opponent this season.
“The feeling was incredible, two weeks here in Beijing, in front of my home crowd is one of my dreams, especially playing against Mirra, such a great player,” the winner said.
“I’ve been through a very, very tough year.”
Andreeva broke new ground in her own career by reaching the final, becoming the third-youngest this century to reach the top 3 behind Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.
“She’s a great server. I also think today I missed a lot of returns trying to go for it, trying to be more aggressive,” Andreeva said,
“I wanted to go for it but couldn’t really find I guess the margin, couldn’t really find the rhythm, as well. I will probably need to look at this match and just see why, try to improve and learn from that.
“Overall of course it was a good tournament,” she added. “A lot of positives to take from these two weeks. Of course, I felt like today just wasn’t meant to be.
“I think I will be able to look to this match maybe from a different perspective and see maybe some good things.”
Main photo:- Zheng Quinwen by ISF Ltd
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