Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka in motion through the first spherical match towards Russia’s Erika Andreeva.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka launched her bid for a maiden French Open title and second Grand Slam crown of the yr with a breezy 6-1 6-2 first-round win over Russian teenager Erika Andreeva on Tuesday that can function a warning to her major rivals.
The 26-year-old, who efficiently defended her Australian Open title earlier this yr, is making an attempt to grow to be the primary girl to triumph at Melbourne and Paris in the identical yr since American Serena Williams achieved the feat in 2015.
“I’m just trying to separate myself from all those facts. I mean, I know that if I’ll be able to focus on myself and I’ll be able to fight for every point and try to find solution in each game I will be able to win these big tournaments,” she mentioned.
“But I just try to take it step by step.”
Sabalenka arrived at Roland Garros as a high contender for the title after robust ends in the European claycourt swing – shedding solely to Iga Swiatek and Marketa Vondrousova – and wasted little time to get occurring Court Philippe Chatrier.
After breaking within the fourth sport when 19-year-old Andreeva hit a double fault, Sabalenka fired up her forehand to rapidly construct up a 5-1 lead and closed out the opening set when her opponent despatched a shot huge.
Sabalenka pounced on world quantity 100 Andreeva’s serve once more to seize the lead within the second set earlier than handing the break again whereas making an attempt a chip from deep, however final yr’s semi-finalist promptly surged forward 4-2 after saving extra breakpoints.
Having neutralised the elevated menace from Andreeva, she wrapped up the competition on serve in 68 minutes, ending it off on her third matchpoint with a chic drop shot on the internet to large cheers from the gang.
“In practice I do it very well,” Sabalenka mentioned on courtroom earlier. “But I wasn’t sure I can do it on the match court.
“Now I began utilizing it within the matches. It did not work properly earlier than however now it has began working lastly, after a few years of practising my contact sport.”
Up subsequent for the Belarusian is Irene Burillo Escorihuela or Moyuka Uchijima, with the 2 qualifiers set to face off later.
Source: www.thehindu.com
