Staff Reporter.
World No 7 Ons Jabeur made a near-flawless start to her French Open campaign as she brushed aside unseeded Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-4 6-1 on Tuesday to reach the second round.
Jabeur has had a stop-start season in which she had minor knee surgery before winning the title in Charleston and skipping the Madrid Open with a calf problem but the Tunisian was in peak form in Paris as she eased through the first set.
Bronzetti came into the clash on Court Philippe Chatrier high on confidence after winning the first singles title of her career in Rabat but the 24-year-old’s hopes of ending a five-match losing run at the majors faded as the contest wore on.
Jabeur, the runner-up at last year’s Wimbledon and US Open, blended guile and power as she reeled off the breaks in the second set to go 5-0 up before dropping serve.
The 28-year-old quickly shook off that minor dip to comfortably close out the contest in the following game when Bronzetti sent a shot wide at the net.
“I’m very happy to win my first match on Philippe Chatrier — because I’ve never won here,” Jabeur said on court about the clay-court tournament’s main stadium.
“It was a very difficult period for me after Stuttgart,” said Jabeur, adding that she’s beginning to find her rhythm.
Also Tuesday, 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva had a memorable Grand Slam debut by dominating Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-2, 6-1. Andreeva’s older sister — 18-year-old Erika — was facing Emma Navarro later in the day.
Later, Swiatek gets her French Open title defense started against Cristina Bucsa, who is ranked 70th.
Meanwhile last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud reached the second round of the French Open on Tuesday with a comfortable straight-sets victory over Sweden’s Elias Ymer.
The Norwegian fourth seed, who also lost the US Open final last year to Carlos Alcaraz, wrapped up a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory on Suzanne Lenglen.
Ruud will next face either unpredictable Kazakh Alexander Bublik or Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri as he continues his attempt to go one better than 12 months ago when he was thrashed in the final by Rafael Nadal.