Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen defeated crowd favorite Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-1 in Cornet’s 20th and final appearance at Roland Garros, advancing to the second round. Kazakh fourth seed Elena Rybakina overcame Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-3, withstanding a late fightback to secure her spot in the next round. Rybakina, unable to defend her Italian Open title, faced a challenging start at Roland Garros. She appeared to be in trouble after losing her serve in the opening game and falling 2-0 behind. Rybakina had withdrawn from last year’s French Open before her third-round match. The 34-year-old Cornet, who holds the Open era women’s record for consecutive major main draw appearances, had previously announced that she would retire after this tournament. She will still compete in the women’s and mixed doubles events before ending her nearly 20-year professional career.
Cornet knocked out
Zheng Qinwen gave her all under the Court Philippe Chatrier roof on a rainy day in Paris but struggled against the Australian Open runner-up Cornet. She surrendered the opening set easily and quickly fell into a breakdown in the second set. Despite arriving at Roland Garros after a strong run to the Rome quarter-finals and aiming for her first major title, Zheng stepped up her game to build a 5-1 lead in the second set before finishing the match in style. She hugged Cornet at the net as the small crowd in the main stadium rose to its feet and cheered for the local player. Zheng will next face either American Ashlyn Krueger or Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch.
Rybakina marches ahead
“Last year I missed this tournament and it was really hard but really happy to be back and compete here,” Rybakina said. “I’m really happy, thank you so much for coming guys, it’s been an amazing atmosphere.” After Minnen’s fast start, fourth seed Elena Rybakina settled down, winning the next six games to take the first set. The Kazakh began the second set in the same dominant fashion, quickly establishing a 4-0 lead.
Minnen rallied, breaking Rybakina’s serve, and broke again when Rybakina served for the match. However, this only delayed the inevitable as Rybakina held her next service game to secure the win. Despite the rain falling on Roland Garros and necessitating the use of the roof on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Rybakina was untroubled by the conditions.
“Of course, the ball is a little bit heavier and you need to move better and it’s different, but that’s tennis and you need to adjust with this rainy weather,” she said. Rybakina, the only player to defeat Iga Swiatek on clay this year, secured a victory over the world number one and three-time French Open champion on her way to winning the Stuttgart title in April. The 24-year-old will now have a couple of days to rest before facing either Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands or Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
Source Agencies
