The French Open
French Open 2025 Women’s Day 1
Aryna Sabalenka got away to a winning start at Roland Garros on Sunday’s opening day with a 6-1, 6-0 demolition of Kamilla Rakhimova to glide easily into the second round.
The win was the second here for Sabalenka against Rakhimova, whom she also defeated in the third round two years ago.
The top seed who has not passed the semi-finals in Paris, never let her opponent into the brief match which lasted 60 minutes.
The last time she lost just one game in a match, the 27-year-old won the 2024 Australian Open.
Sabalenka swept up the opening set in 30 minutes and was all but unchallenged on her way to victory with 30 winners and 17 unforced errors.
“It was amazing playing out there. I can’t wait to play another match on this beautiful stadium,” she said.
With Roland Garros the last of the Grand Slams still holding onto human linecalling, Sabalenka admits that her opinion of the decision is mixed.
“I guess (it is) old school, having the referees (linespeople) and calling the referee to check the mark.
“I think that’s something which brings like in old days, which is cool, probably. I don’t know. Honest.
“I had a situation with the referee in Stuttgart, and also there was tricky calls with the Hawk-Eye system in Rome.
“So I’m really confused (about) what I prefer, to be honest.”
With her 2024 tournament here ending in the quarter-finals while carrying a stomach illness, Sabalenka is keen for improvement.
“I’m just trying to live my life, work hard on court, and go out there every time and fight for every point…I really hope for a better result than last year.”
There was a similar lop-sided outcome for Elina Svitolina as the popular Ukrainian 13th seed crushed Turk Zeynep Sonmez 6-1, 6-1, taking 72 minutes to advance.
“I definitely had good tournaments leading up to Roland Garros,” the winner said. “Winning 250 in Rouen was a good tournament for me, then playing well in Madrid, Rome as well..
“I was finding my game in different conditions. That’s what brought me a lot of confidence. I’m trying to work on a few things and just try to bring my best game for the next round.”
Compatriot Dayana Yastremska put another Ukrainian into the second round,defeating Australian wild card Destanee Aiava 7-5, 6-1.
Eighth seed Zheng Qinwen returned to the Paris scene of her 2024 Olympic gold medal, scoring a move into the second round 6-4, 6-3 over veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2021 finalist.
Due to early afternoon rain, the match was played under the closed roof of the Chatrier showcourt, which made little difference to the Chinese player.
“Actually, it was still a tennis court,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you play with roof or without roof.
“It’s the same conditions for me and my opponent. The court and the balls today were slower than outside.”
2020 semi-finalist Petra Kvitova went out in the Paris first round for the second time in as many appearances, losing 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to Swiss Viktorija Golubic.
Kvitova, a double Australian Open champion, did not play last year during a pregnancy break but lost in the first round in 2023; she went down with 26 unforced errors.
The 32-year-old Golubic left it late this spring to finally score a win on clay after losing in her only WTA-level match on the dirt in Rome this month after qualifying.
The Swiss lived up to her French Open giant-killer reputation, beating Kvitova a year after eliminating 2021 tournament winner Barbora Krejcikova in a similar first-round upset a year ago.
Jill Teichman produced a second Swiss win, defeating Italian qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini 6-4, 6-4.
In other results, rising Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko put her qualifier status to best use, earning her first win in a main draw at a major – and 39th of the season – with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) defeat of New Zealand’s Lulu Sun.
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
Zverev scratches 7-year itch with return to Shanghai SF
Tenth time lucky as Li knocks out Sabalenka
Zverev celebrates No. 1 status with Shanghai QF
-
Beijing2 weeks agoNo. 1 and 2 seeds ousted in Beijing WTA
-
ATP2 weeks agoBu hoo for China as Djokovic outlasts a local
-
ATP3 weeks agoItalian media fear Sinner may need surgery
-
ATP2 weeks agoDjokovic reaches 7th Beijing final as Medvedev DQ’d
-
ATP2 weeks agoDjokovic untouchable after 30th win in Beijing
-
ATP1 week agoAlcaraz beats Lehecka to triumph in Tokyo
-
ATP1 week agoDjokovic backs into 7th Beijing title as injured de Minaur quits
-
Billy Jean King Cup3 weeks agoCzechs charge to BJK Cup title