Last year’s Roland Garros finalist Simona Halep (3) had to fight hard in the final games of both sets to edge past Evgeniya Rodina 7-5 6-4 as the first match of the tournament on Court Philippe Chatrier. The Romanian player hit an ace on her match point to close it out in an hour and 15 minutes. Diego Sampaolo
Halep raced out a 4-1 lead with a double break in hand but Rodina clawed her way back into the match drawing level at 5-5. Halep won the next two games to clinch the 1st set 7-5 after 36 minutes. The 2nd set remained on serve until the 9th game when Halep got the break for 5-4 before holding her serve in the next game to take the match.
“It was a tough match, not just because first rounds are always tough, but because she played well”, said Halep
Halep will next take on Mirjana Lucic-Baroni who edged past Lauren Davis 6-3 3-6 6-3. Lucic-Baroni beat Halep last year in the 3rd round of the US Open so the Romanian would be looking to avenge that loss.
Italy’s Flavia Pennetta (28) rallied past Poland’s Magda Linette 6-3 5-7 6-1. The Italian got a double break to cruise to 4-0 but Linette came back roaring, reeling off three games in a row for 3-4. Pennetta won the next two games for the 1st set 6-4. Linette was not discouraged as she got an early break to go up 3-1 in the second set. Pennetta took the next 4 games and served for the match at 5-3 but she dropped her serve. Pennetta was within two points from winning the match at 5-4 but Linette drew level to 5-5. Linette seized the momentum to take the 2nd set 7-5. However, she could not sustain it in the 3rd set as Pennetta rapidly got to a 3-1 lead and closed out the set 6-1 for the match.
Garbine Muguruza (21), who reached the quarterfinal last year in Paris after beating world’s number 1 Serena Williams, won over Petra Matric 6-2 7-5. Muguruza will take on Camila Giorgi in the 2nd round. Giorgi beat Tatjana Maria 7-5 6-3. Ekaterina Makarova (9) beat wildcard Louisa Chirico 6-4 6-2.
Ana Ivanovic (7) silenced some critics when she made it past Yaroslava Shvedova. Many felt that Ivanovic would make another early round exit as she did at the Australian Open in January. It near seemed that way as Shvedova took the opening set 6-4. However, the Serbian rebounded strongly dropping only two games for the rest of the match to take it in 3 sets 4-6 6-2 6-0.
Ivanovic’s stocks at these championships have greatly improved as she benefitted from the early dismissal of Caroline Garcia (31) who many had picked as a darkhorse at this tournament and likely to get to Round of 16 at least. Garcia also has a winning record against Ivanovic beating her in their last three meetings all this year. However, Garcia basically crashed and burned in front of her home crowd against Croatian Donna Vekic. Garcia won the opening set 6-3 but could not maintain any momentum thereafter. She corrected error after error especially on crucial points in the match. Vekic seized the moment and took the match 3-6 6-3 6-2.
Garcia was one of two seeded players on the women side that were out on the first day. Shuai Peng (24) retired against Polona Hercog after losing the first 8 games of the match. Lucie Safarova (13) moved through to the next round when she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in two tough tiebreak sets 7-6 7-6. The other winners of the day are Elena Vesnina, Kurumi Nara, Bojana Jovanovski, Misaki Doi, Magdalena Rybarikova and Teliana Pereira.
