Sloane Stephens showed her dominance in the first round of the French Open with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Karolina Pliskova. Although Stephens has only won one Grand Slam title, which was at the 2017 US Open, she has had sustained success at Roland Garros. She finished as a runner-up to Simona Halep in 2018 and reached two other quarterfinals on the red clay in Paris, including last year. Stephens was very excited to be back on her “favorite court in the world” saying, “To start a Slam on your favorite court, your favorite surface, is always incredible.”
American Women Go 4-0 on Day 2 of Tournament
Stephens helped American women go 4-0 through the first few hours of play on Day 2 of the tournament after a 1-4 start Sunday. Madison Keys, the runner-up to Stephens in New York six years ago and a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2018, beat Kaia Kanepi 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 on Monday to improve her career record in the first round of majors to 35-5. Also, Croatian-born American Bernarda Pera beat former No. 2-ranked Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (6), 6-2. The American streak ended when Alycia Parks lost 6-4, 6-0 to Marketa Vondrousova.
Upsets in First Round
Two-time Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova, the 10th seed, fell to a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who claimed the biggest win of her career in the opening round. No. 11 seed Veronika Kudermetova also was upset, falling to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-1. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a finalist in Paris in 2021, breezed past Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-2, No. 12 Belinda Bencic was upset 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 by Elina Avanesyan, 22nd-seeded Donna Vekic beat qualifier Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 7-5, and French favorite Caroline Garcia fought her way into the second round by downing Wang Xiyu 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4.
Stephens was down a break in the second set against Pliskova but then won three straight games to close it out. She had a 19-16 edge in winners and committed only 10 unforced errors to 31 by Pliskova, who lost in the finals of the US Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2021. Stephens said that the court is a bit tricky and you need to play on it a lot to understand when the wind is blowing and where it’s coming. She said, “The more you play on it, the more you understand it. But it’s a very complicated court. But that’s what makes it so amazing.”
Stephens won a small clay-court tournament in Saint Malo, France, at the start of the month and reached the semifinals of the Morocco Open last week after playing a total of three matches at bigger clay events in Madrid and Rome. She said, “Last year, my clay season wasn’t great, but I played amazing at Roland Garros last year, and this year, I really wanted to get matches and play a lot and to see where that got me.”
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine defeated Martina Trevisan of Italy 6-2, 6-2 in her opening match Monday, then expressed frustration with what she called “empty words” over the war in her country. Svitolina said, “A lot of Ukrainian people need help and support, and we are focusing on so many things, like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation.” Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk was booed Sunday at the end of her first-round loss after refusing to shake hands with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. Belarus has served as a staging ground for Russian troops in the war.
Pavlyuchenkova said she had feared for her career a year ago because of a knee problem. She said she was forced to go through extensive rehabilitation and stopped playing tennis completely for around five months, with the lack of physical activity during the process leaving her out of shape. The former world No. 11, who has slipped to 333rd in the rankings, stepped up her comeback with tour-level wins in Madrid and Rome before a run to the Strasbourg quarterfinals. She said she was “super focused” to avoid an early exit at the hands of her young opponent. Pavlyuchenkova said, “I wanted to stay here as much as possible because it’s a very special place for me.”
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