Elena Rybakina storms into Roland Garros second round
World No. 2 Elena Rybakina kicked off her Roland Garros campaign in dominant fashion, cruising to a comfortable victory over 26-year-old Slovenian Veronika Erjavec (ranked 84th) in the first round, Qazinform News Agency cites the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation.
The match lasted 1 hour and 16 minutes and ended 6-2, 6-2 in favor of Rybakina. During this time, the Kazakhstani player served two aces, made one double fault, and converted four of five break points, without losing her own serve once.
After making the fourth round in Paris last season, Rybakina needs to defend 240 points over the next two weeks. Her next opponent will be Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva (No. 55 WTA).
In addition, today in the first round, Kazakhstan’s second seed Yulia Putintseva (No. 76 WTA) will play her match against Australian Talia Gibson (No. 58 WTA).
In the men’s draw, Alexander Shevchenko was eliminated in the French Open singles opening round after a 2-6, 4-6, 2-6 loss to American Alex Michelsen. However, the Kazakhstani player remains in the tournament to compete in the doubles event alongside his compatriot and team leader, Alexander Bublik.
Another Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik (No. 10 ATP) will begin his singles campaign tomorrow. The top-ranked Kazakhstani will face Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff (No. 80 ATP) in his opening match.
Earlier, Qazinform reported Kazakhstan's Kamilya Dosmalova becomes the Asian Para Taekwondo champion.