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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
Sport
Paul Myers

French Open top seed Sabalenka blasts her way into second round

world number one aryna sabalenka © Pierre RENE-WORMS/RFI

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the second round of the French Open on Sunday with a 6-1, 6-0 dismissal of the unseeded Russian Kamilla Rakhimova.

The Belarusian sped into a 3-0 lead after 10 minutes on centre court and claimed the service of the world number 86 for a second time to lead 5-1.

Her third ace of the encounter sealed the game to wrap up the opener 6-1 after 24 minutes.

It was one-way traffic in the second and all over after an hour.

"The first match is always tricky especially against someone you like," Sabalenka told the on-court interviewer Marion Bartoli.

"I'm very friendly with Kamilla so I'm super happy with the way I played."

Thirteenth seed Elina Svitolina was almost as expeditious. The 30-year-old Ukrainian blitzed Zeynep Sonmez from Turkey 6-1, 6-1 in 72 minutes.

Elsewhere in the women's draw, the Canadian qualifier Victoria Mboko won her first match in the main draw at a Grand Slam event with a 6-1, 7-6 victory over Lulu Sun from New Zealand

"Before the match I didn't really feel that nervous," said the 18-year-old.

Challenge

"Lulu is a really great player and I knew I had to bring some great tennis out. Before playing the match I just took it as like it's another match.

"Of course, it's a really big deal for me, but I tried to kind of trick my brain into thinking it wasn't such a big deal – you're just playing another match, just another tournament. It helped me kind of calm down."

Eighth seed Qinwen Zheng saw off the 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3.

"She plays aggressively so it wasn't an easy match. I'm just happy to get through because I always think the first match at a Grand Slam event is tricky."

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