PARIS — Egyptian tennis player Mayar Sherif, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas powered into the second round of the French Open.
Wildcards Thanasi Kokkinakis and Storm Hunter and jubilant Jason Kubler have given Australia a flying start to the French Open with rousing first-round victories in Paris.
Sherif’s trailblazing run to the Madrid Open quarter-finals this month has given her the confidence to go on a similar quest at the French Open as the Egyptian eased past Madison Brengle of the United States in the opening round.
The 27-year-old became the first woman from her country to win a WTA title when she triumphed in Parma last year and broke new ground again for her nation at the WTA 1000 level, beating Caroline Garcia and Elise Mertens to make the Madrid last eight.
Sherif was stopped by eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in the Spanish capital but her efforts lifted her to a career-high ranking of number 43 before she slipped to her current position of 54 heading into Roland Garros.
“Definitely I’m more calm (after the Madrid Open). I’m more composed, I have more confidence about where I can get,” Sherif said according to Reuters following her 6-3 6-1 win over American Brengle.
“I feel the Madrid experience gave me a lot of mentality to see where I can get. Now passing the first round feels like, ‘OK, I got this. The next round, I also got this.’
“I don’t feel any more nervous first rounds and the second rounds as much as a couple of years ago.”
In 2020, Sherif became the first Egyptian woman to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam at the French Open. She reached the second round on the Parisian clay last year, but a stress fracture in her foot forced her to pull out.
However, Sherif is optimistic about her chances this year.
“Obviously this is my favourite Grand Slam, so whenever I come here, I feel comfortable on the clay … with the conditions here,” said Sherif, who meets Russian 24th seed Anastasia Potapova next.
Sabalenka took her time to get going but powered into the second round of the French Open with a comprehensive 6-3 6-2 win over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in a feisty clash to begin the year’s second Grand Slam.
Sabalenka appeared to be in a spot of bother on serve early on and fell behind 2-3, but the unseeded Kostyuk could not build on her advantage and the Australian Open champion struck back immediately with a powerful crosscourt volley on breakpoint.
Second seed Sabalenka wrapped up the first set in style in front of a sparse Court Philippe Chatrier crowd before pouncing in the next with an early break and another to go up 4-1, as Kostyuk wilted under the Paris sun.
The Belarusian raised her level again late in the match to save two breakpoints and close out the victory in 71 minutes.
Tsitsipas held off a spirited comeback from Jiri Vesely to reach the second round with a four-set win.
The Greek fifth seed, who blew a two-set lead to lose the 2021 final to Novak Djokovic, won 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) on Court Philippe Chatrier.
“The match was very inconsistent from my side,” said Tsitsipas.
“I felt like I haven’t played a match with so much inconsistency in a very long time.
“But otherwise I’m happy with how things turned around, and my fighting spirit kind of went on full display in those last few points of the tie-breaker.”
“It gives me a chance to go practice a bit more,” Tsitsipas added when asked about his upcoming two days without a match in Paris.
Karolina Muchova, neabwhile, credited the extra motivation she has at the Grand Slam level for her fifth win over a top-10 player at the majors after toppling world No 8 Maria Sakkari.
Sakkari was left with a sense of deja vu following the 7-6(5) 7-5 defeat having lost to Muchova at last year’s tournament after describing the 26-year-old Czech as one of the toughest unseeded players anyone could have in the first round.
Muchova, who has beaten the likes of Karolina Pliskova and Ash Barty apart from Sakkari at the Grand Slams, said there was no secret to her success after she returned to action following abdominal and ankle injuries in 2022.
“It’s the biggest tournament and I like to play them as well as – I don’t want to say I’m not focused on other tournaments, but the motivation is bigger at all the four slams,” Muchova, the world number 43, told reporters.
“I think that might be it. But anyway, anywhere I am, I’m trying to play the best against top seeds and trying to get back my ranking as well because I think I could be at least seeded at the Grand Slams.
“That would help me as well. I think I’m getting there step-by-step. I’m glad that I won today.”
Muchova, who now has eight wins over top 10 players in her career, will take on another former Roland Garros semifinalist in Nadia Podoroska of Argentina next.
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