It took Simona Halep 32 Grand Slam events and 4 finals to finally emerge as the last woman standing as she defeated Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the finals of the French Open. In a hard-hitting match where both opponents threw everything they had at one another, Halep didn't make it easy on herself and had to come back from a set and a break deficit to earn her first major victory.
It was the 10th seeded American who came out with a more emphatic start. Halep seemed understandable nervous and couldn't answer the precision that Stephens was generating in the first set. After Halep went down a break to start the second set, many got the feeling that winning a Grand Slam just might not be in the cards for the Romanian. Instead, it seemed that playing from behind was the more comfortable option for Halep.
While Stephens was serving up 2-1 in the second frame, momentum shifted and saw Halep win two straight games at love. Cue the chants of SI-MO-NA, SI-MO-NA and you could tell what the crowd wanted to see. Halep broke her opponent a second time to go up 4-2 but then followed that up with a lackluster game where she dropped four straight points. The pair stayed on-serve until Stephens was serving at 4-5, 30-40 and sent a backhand into the net to force a deciding set.
It was Halep who seized control in the final set and she never looked back. She reeled-off five straight games before allowing Stephens to get on the board. Halep closed out the match and her first Grand Slam on her next service game and looked at the same time proud and bewildered about what had just transpired. Remarkably Halep achieved the reverse of a year ago, where she faltered against Jelena Ostapenko after being the one in the drivers seat.
Halep then climbed into the stands on Philippe Chatrier and shared a hug with her parents, entourage and of course with her coach Darren Cahill. It was an emotional moment that speaks to the hard road the two have taken together in recent years.
Halep now can continue her time as the World No. 1 with the confidence of knowing she absolutely deserves to be there. She has silenced her critics and proven that she can hang-on to win in the most pressure-filled situations. Mission accomplished.
Here are the two audio clips of my interview with Yorkshire tennis enthusiast and Alexander Zverev's favorite reporter Jonathan Pinfield from this year's French Open. My thanks to him for taking a moment out of his already very busy schedule this week to talk to us about his blossoming bromance with the World No. 3, the unique accent he carries with him and his thoughts about how us Canadians speak as well!
With the exception of his straight-sets victory in the first round, No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev had been playing with fire all week at the French Open. Three consecutive five set matches tested his followers confidence in his game and also clearly pushed his body past its limit as well. On Tuesday he was defeated by 7th seeded Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 after he suffered an injury to his left hamstring that would hamper his ability to serve and navigate his way around the clay on court Phillippe-Chatrier.
With Rafael Nadal the clear-cut favorite on the other side of the draw it likely wouldn't have mattered even if Zverev had advanced to the finals. At a mere 21 years of age he will certainly have many more future opportunities and is bound to end his career one day with multiple Grand Slam titles given his immense talent level. Still the result is a disappointment considering his No. 2 seeding and the fact that he had played so well on the red clay in Europe over the past two months. He made the semi-finals in Monte Carlo, lost the finals in Rome to Nadal and won the events in Munich and Madrid to establish himself as a bonafide contender in Paris.
One aspect of Zverev's 2018 French Open experience that garnered a lot of attention off the court was his friendly banter in his press conferences with Yorkshire tennis reporter Jonathan Pinfield. Covering the event for Live Sports FM in the UK, Pinfield brought out the best in Zverev - even after his quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Thiem. Zverev himself admitted during his final meeting with the media that, “I think you’re the only person in the World who can make me smile right now”
Overall the week should be seen as a step in the right direction for Zverev. While he still awaits his first major Grand Slam breakthrough, he did manage to advance to the quarterfinals of one of tennis' biggest tournaments for the first time in his career. He also won three matches that went the distance to help improve his previous record in five set matches that had stood at a meager 3-4 before the event began.
While some are quick to criticize Zverev, he is not the only promising tennis player to fail to attain Grand Slam success at a young age. Sure, Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg, among others, captured their first at the age of 18 or younger, but others needed a bit more time to let their games and their maturity season. Andre Agassi was 22 when he triumphed at Wimbledon, Ivan Lendl took the first of his eight Slams at age 24 and perhaps the greatest tennis player that ever lived - Roger Federer - was nearly 22 when he won his maiden major championship at Wimbledon in 2003. In short, there is still time for Zverev - someone who also happens to play at a time when the sport is still being dominated by two over-thirty legends in Federer and Nadal.
The next step for Zverev will be to overcome his injury and begin preparations for Wimbledon at the start of July. His all-surface game means that potential success at a Grand Slam is not just limited to the red clay in Paris. That fact should bode well when he finally does break through that barrier and begins to create a legacy that I'm sure there is a good chance will eventually see his name mentioned along with some of the greatest the sport has ever seen.
Any tennis fans who have been following the French Open over the past week have undoubtedly heard by now the charming voice of a certain tennis reporter from Yorkshire. The rapport Jonathan Pinfield has established with World No. 3 Alexander Zverev has captured the tennis world (both inside and outside of Yorkshire!) by storm and become one of the feel-good stories from the tournament this year. Here is my interview from yesterday with Jonathan where we discuss his experiences so far in Paris.
Q: So tell us Jon, is it true that you and Sasha Zverev will be partnering in doubles this year at Wimbledon?
A: Well we’ve exchanged one or two rallies so far in the press conferences, but we’re keeping it strictly professional and I’m not quite sure whether my backhand would hold up to be honest, but yeah really enjoying it at Roland Garros. I think it’s fair to say that Sasha is keeping everyone entertained both on the court and off the court.
Q: Well both of you are for that matter Jon. Tell me how did that one question after his first match lead into this current blossoming bromance between the two of you?
A: Well I think everyone by now knows I’m from Yorkshire. I’ve been told I have quite a strong accent so I have been making the conscious effort to speak quite slowly and deliberately. So when I got the opportunity to ask Sasha at the first news conference if he thought that Roland Garros could be a turning point in his Grand Slam career he looked at me slightly quizzically, started chuckling and said, “I love your accent, but I haven’t got a clue what you’re saying.” So it was at that point I realized that something had clearly been lost in translation. I’d like to think that from that point onwards we’ve been able to communicate by speaking the universal language of love and I think whatever has been lost in translation we’re trying to make up for now.
Q: I certainly think you’re achieving that. Are you taken aback, are you surprised by the reaction on social media by this relationships you guys are sort of forming?
A: Absolutely yes, because obviously we had a brief moment in the initial press conference where we had a bit of banter and a bit of good humored chat, but you come out of the news conference and from that point you don’t think anything of it whatsoever, you just got on to the next news story. You think quite fondly of the little exchange you’ve had and then you’re focusing on what’s going to happen next. But yeah, in a way that things have unfolded have certainly caught me by surprise and I’m sure everyone else who has followed it.
Q: What’s the reaction like back home from friends, family and other media members in your hometown?
A: Well I think everyone’s saying keeping flying the flag for Yorkshire. Lots of people have heard of Yorkshire, some haven’t, but one or two people have said that Sasha has certainly put Yorkshire on the map. And I understand now that there are calls for him to become an honorary Yorkshire-man so who knows, he could become the first honorary Yorkshire man to go deep into a Grand Slam.
Q: Tell me, have you had any other good reactions from players this week? Is this a usual thing for you week-in and week-out with your wonderful accent being recognized?
A: Well I got the opportunity to interview one of the players today who said that I’m the man, so he won his match today and I told him that he was the man. I’ll save his blushes, I won’t tell who that was, but that was a wonderful compliment.
Q: How long have you been covering the sport for Jon and do you play tennis yourself?
A: I don’t actually get a chance to do much reporting. There’s a team of about 30 of us at Live Sports FM. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for our listeners, I think my colleagues are a lot more talented than I am so I’m usually back at the office organizing other people. The trip to Roland Garros was a bit of a treat to myself to be honest just to get out of the office for two weeks and experience some great tennis. Yeah I’d love to get on the court, I think you can probably guess what happens is that Wimbledon is on once a year and what us Brits do is we get our racquets out for about two weeks of the year dodging the showers to try to hit a few tennis balls. Then once Wimbledon is over and the weather changes we hide the racquets somewhere and then we’ve got to try and find them a year later. I’d love to think I can play tennis but I play it pretty poorly I must admit.
Q: Well you’ll have to find some more time to get out yourself and I would imagine that after this week’s performance by yourself on the job you’ll be getting a few more calls to attend some tennis tournaments in the future and I know we’d all enjoy that. Tell me, what do you think of Zverev’s chances in his quarterfinal match if you could objectively look at that as he tries to capture his first Grand Slam.
A: Well honestly they’re both young players at similar stages in their careers I’d say. Dominic has got a bit more experience on the ATP Tour and is a bit more measured and calm. I think Sasha has a lot of natural talent and it’s just a question if whether he can just curb those aspects of his personality that actually trip him up. I think a lot of people’s heads are thinking that it might trip up Sasha on this one but I think a lot of hearts are hoping that he can do it. But I must admit I’ve got a foot in both camps. I wouldn’t like to say who’s going to win that one it could be very close indeed.
Q: What have Zverev’s responses to you this week in press revealed to you about his personality? Has it surprised you his reaction to your questions and sort of opened the door to allow us to get to know him a little bit better?
A: Yeah I think one criticism of him so far has been sometimes he does come across as quite self-confident. He does a lot of news conferences, he gets asked a lot of the same questions and so he’s not someone who is always going to give you a stock response and what journalists like are quite long detailed answers to questions even if they’re not very well formed. So, I think yeah, we try to keep him on his toes, he’s certainly kept us on our toes, but just judging by the reaction to some of what’s happened on social media – not just the interactions with me – but his performances off the court, on the court, I think people are warming to him and seeing different aspects of his personality and that can only be good for him. I think that self-assured confidence that he’s got isn’t going to change dramatically and as you know any top flight tennis player has got to believe in himself to get the performances.
Q: Absolutely and I think we have to credit you as well Jon for helping get some of that out and certainly looking forward to your next press conference with him. I’ll end it on this one, since we started talking about accents - that beings yours – what’s your reaction to our Canadian accent as I know you’ve been doing a little press with some other Canadian reporters this week. How do we compare?
A: I think it’s very warm, very friendly and very open. And I think all the Canadian colleagues of yours that I’ve met at Roland Garros have helped by being very supportive towards me, very kind, very considerate and seem to also have a good rapport with the players as well. I’m a bit biased, I think that Yorkshire is the best accent in the world, but if I didn’t have a Yorkshire accent and had to learn a new one I’d definitely go for Canadian.
Q: Well thank you for sharing yours with us today Jon. You’re more than just your accent for sure, you’ve asked some great tennis questions this week and we look forward to more throughout this week in Paris and beyond as well. Thanks for taking the time.
A: Really appreciate your support as well Mike and everyone who has been in touch, thank you very much, been a pleasure.
And in case you missed it, here is the first exchange between Pinfield and Zverev :
Playing in her first Grand Slam match since winning the Australian Open 16 months ago, Serena Williams defeated Krystyna Pliskova 7-6(4), 6-4. Clad in an impressive and attention-grabbing black jumpsuit, the 23-time Slam winner worked her way through her first clay court match since the French Open two years ago.
In the hour and forty-five minute match, Serena was hitting her first serve in at a 55% rate while winning 80% of those points. Pliskova for her part served at 60% effectiveness on her first serve yet only managed to win 70% of those points. Pliskova had twice as many break point opportunities on Serena's serve but only could convert on 2 of 8 of those chances while the American was a sharp 3 out of 4 to break her opponents serve.
Serena was actually out-aced by Pliskova by a 15-13 margin but as she continues to find her groove back on the tennis court I would expect that to be a rare occurrence. Credit to Pliskova who was ripping her serves in at only 3 kph less than Serena on her average serve speed during the match. Though it is the other Pliskova twin - Karolina - who is ranked in the top-ten, Krystyna has been playing well of late and came into the match with a 10-5 record on clay this spring.
"I knew that after her first game of serving that I said, ok I have to serve really well today, I have to be really on my game serving-wise because there's not going to be a tremendous amount of rallies..."
The victory almost seemed to be overshadowed by the reaction on social media to Serena's eye-catching outfit that she revealed was as much about practicality as anything else. The returning tennis legend referenced in on her Twitter account as well after the match and gave credit to Mom's everywhere who have gone through challenging pregnancies.
"It is definitely a little functionality to it. I have been wearing pants in general a lot when I play so I can keep the blood circulation going," Serena revealed. "I feel like a warrior in it, like a warrior princess kind of -- queen from Wakanda maybe."
The coolest piece to the entire ensemble might have been the shoes that seemed perhaps overshadowed by the overall stunning look that she pulled-off on Tuesday with the catsuit.
Fashion aside, the victory puts Serena at a 3-2 record in her return to the WTA since her 14 month absence while pregnant and becoming a new mother. Things won't get any easier in the next round as she faces hard-hitting Ashleigh Barty of Australia, a player with a more similar style of game to Serena.
Barty won her opening round against Natalia Vikhlyansetva 6-3, 6-1 but that match likely offered very little in terms of preparing to face the greatest female tennis player of all-time. The pair have played once before - at the 2014 Australian Open - with Serena prevailing 6-2, 6-1. Barty was only 17 at the time, so the result doesn't hold any weight to it. The Australian has come a long way since then and has had some strong moments in 2018 including being a finalist towards the start of the season in Sydney and more recently when she made the semi-finals of a clay court tournament in Strasbourg where she had to retire down a set due to a sore back.
The big hitting second round match is slated for Thursday in Paris. We'll see if Serena is once again sporting her catsuit and can channel her inner superhero as she progresses through her inspiring comeback to tennis.
Jelena Ostapenko turned heads last year when she unexpectedly won the French Open. The 5th ranked Latvian surprised the tennis world again on Sunday but for entirely different reasons. The defending champion was taken out by 66th ranked Kateryna Kozlova - a player who had not won a WTA match since early February.
Kozlova refused to be dragged into the go-for-broke style of play that Ostapenko has become known for and walked away with a 7-5, 6-3 victory - her third in as many meetings with the Ukrainian.
Ostapenko's match stats stood out and for all the wrong reasons. She served at a mere 47%, was broken 7 times by Kozlova and she also threw in 13 double faults.
After the match Ostapenko spoke candidly about the pressure of returning to Paris as the defending champion. A pressure that clearly was too much for her to handle on this occasion.
"I made like 50 unforced errors and so many double faults, and couldn't serve today. Everything together just brought me a really bad result. I had this unbelievable pressure. I felt that I'm not myself today on court."
Aside from the mental pressure of defending her Grand Slam title, Ostapenko also revealed she had not completely healed from an injury she suffered against Maria Sharapova in their marathon quarter-final match at the Italian Open in Rome.
While no longer in action in singles, Ostapenko will try to salvage something of her 2018 French Open experience in doubles alongside partner Elina Vesnina where the duo is seeded 10th. As for singles success, that will now have to wait for the grass court season that begins in two weeks time. Hopefully by then the pressure Ostapenko struggled with today will be a distant memory.
Fourth seeded Elina Svitolina is widely considered one of the favorites to emerge with the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in two week's time at Roland Garros. Her French Open started with her looking anything but the player who could do that. The Ukrainian found herself down two breaks of serve at 1-5 in the opening set. Svitolina then settled down and rattled-off six straight games to take the set 7-5 and give her fans a much needed chance to calm down. She would take the match 7-5, 6-3.
Asked after the match about her slow start the Ukrainian said, "It’s probably a mixture of things. She was striking the ball well, I was a little bit off sometimes going for too much. It was a mixture of things…of course I want to prevent doing this again next match.”
Svitolina's stats for the match reveal a first serve that was clicking at merely 63% and allowed her to win just 57% of those points. She actually won a higher amount of second serve points at 62% and saved 3 of 6 break points that she faced versus only 6 of 11 saved by her opponent Tomljanovic. Svitolina's winner to error margin was 22-26 while Tomljanovic was heavier with the mistakes and had a 21-35 ratio between the two statistics.
A year ago Svitolina took down Yaroslava Shvedova by a more routine score of 6-4, 6-3 in the opening round before falling to Simona Halep in the quarterfinals where she held a 6-3, 5-1 lead but allowed the Romanian back into the match and saw it ultimately slip away 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-0. It was a defeat that Svitolina admits was a tough learning experience that she now uses to motivate herself in order to move towards her first major title on the WTA.
In 2018 the 23 year old has already captured three titles in Brisbane, Dubai and most recently on the clay in Rome. She successfully defended her Italian Open title there last week to kick-start an otherwise mediocre clay season and re-establish herself as a threat in Paris.
In her post match press conference on Sunday Svitolina eluded to the fact that she was going to head right back out onto the practice courts. "I know that I have to put lots of hours on court to get better. For me, the only way to get better is to practice. To get better, to improve my game each day, each match.”
Svitolina will next face 20 year old Viktoria Kuzmova who defeated 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 7-6(2), 7-6(2). The younger Kuzmova made the finals of the 2016 Junior US Open in New York City and likely just ended 37 year old Schiavone's French Open career in the Italian's 18th consecutive appearance there.
The Ukrainian does not play her second round match against Kuzmova until Wednesday and joked that she might, "Go back home and come back" before then. When she does return to action expect a cleaner performance than the one we saw today as Svitolina works towards making her first career major semi-final or better here in Paris.
The men's and women's singles draws at the French Open were both revealed around 1pm ET on Thursday as the second Grand Slam of 2018 is just about ready to begin.
In the men's draw Rafal Nadal will attempt to win his 11th Roland Garros title. He begins his defense against Alexandr Dolgopolov and then would face the winner between Joao Sousa and Guido Pella. A fourth round re-match from Rome against rising Canadian Denis Shapovalov would be an entertaining match but truthfully there does not appear to be any serious threats until the finals for the World No. 1. Even then, the term "serious threat" on clay against Nadal would be considered a stretch. Players who are being discussed as potential obstacles for the Spaniard such as Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic are all in the other half of the draw.
On the women's side it will be far more difficult for Jelena Ostapenko to repeat as champion in 2018. The 20 year old Ukrainian will be challenged quite early in the draw as she is likely to face former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in the second round. Ostapenko's run to the title a year ago was one of the most shocking moments on the WTA Tour that year but a repeat seems almost equally unlikely.
One of the main threats on the women's side is current No. 1 and last year's finalist Simona Halep. The Romanian was up by a set and a 3-0 lead in the second frame of her championship match against Ostapenko but could not secure the victory. With another agonizing defeat to start 2018 at the Australian Open, could this year in Paris allow Halep the occasion to finally capture her first major title?
Check back this weekend to see our full draw preview on both the men's and women's sides at the French Open. Be sure also to follow us on Twitter throughout the two week event for up-to-date news and photos.
With the Miami Open just reaching its conclusion with John Isner and Sloane Stephens hoisting their respective winners trophies, the ATP and WTA Tour's now switch their focus from hard to clay courts. The surface transition is an exciting period of time as it means that we are fast approaching the next Grand Slam of the year at Roland Garros. With roughly a month and a half still to go this is the time for players to assert themselves as pre-tournament favorites for the French Open. With that in mind, let's take a look at who to watch out for in the men's and women's games.
Will defending champion Rafael Nadal be healthy enough to capture his 11th title in Paris? The Spaniard had a remarkable return to form in 2017 capturing both the French and US Open's but has been limited in his appearances this year due to knee issues. If at (or close to) 100% he is the heavy favorite to be the last man standing once again in June.
Photo: Bob McIntyre
The biggest challenge to Nadal might well have been the ageless Roger Federer but he has once again decided to skip the clay court season and prepare for his ultimate goal of capturing yet another Wimbledon crown. Federer raced-out to his best start to a season ever with 17 consecutive wins before he fell to Juan Martin Del Potro in the finals in Indian Wells.
Active winners at Roland Garros are few and far between due to Nadal's incredible dominance over the past decade. In fact, the only ones left on the ATP Tour aside from the previously mentioned Federer are Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka. Djokovic continues to struggle to regain his form and his confidence while Wawrinka has a very mediocre 3-4 record thus far in his limited appearances in 2018. In other words, the chances of a first-time French Open winner if Nadal falters are high.
Likely candidates who could take-down the King of Clay include Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and the previously mentioned Del Potro. Aside from Federer, it has been Del Potro who has had a stellar 2018 with a 21-4 record that has seen him rise to No. 6 in the ATP rankings. His game works well on clay too and he has previously made the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2009 and the quarterfinals in 2012, both times falling in five set thrillers to Federer.
Thiem and Zverev meanwhile represent the future of the ATP and at the ages of 24 and 20 respectively it is only a matter of time before they achieve Grand Slam success. Thiem has gone an impressive 8-1 already this year on clay with a tournament victory in Buenos Aires. Last year he went 24-5 on clay including a run to the semifinals at Roland Garros where he lost to eventual champion Nadal. Zverev is still looking for his Grand Slam breakthrough and he routinely gets knocked for failing to yet attain a major quarterfinal. The German has not yet played on clay in 2018 but had a respectable 16-4 record on the surface in 2017. The kid is going to have his turn at the majors sooner rather than later and there's no reason why that can't happen at the next Slam of 2018.
With the women, few would have given Jelena Ostapenko a realistic shot of winning her first major title last year at Roland Garros but the 20 year old certainly cannot be underestimated this time around. While her game lay dormant to start 2018, she made the finals in Indian Wells on hardcourt and that boost in confidence should propel her into the clay court season feeling pretty solid about her game.
Photo: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography
Other active female winners in Paris include Svetlana Kuznetsova (2009), Francesca Schiavone (2010), Garbine Muguruza (2016), Maria Sharapova (2012, 2014) and, of course, Serena Williams (2002, 2013, 2015). Of that group I'd give only Muguruza - the current World No. 3 - a valid shot at taking home the trophy. Sharapova is on-again, off-again dealing with nagging injury issues, just recently parted ways with her long time coach and just doesn't seem to have it since returning to the WTA Tour following her 15 month suspension that ended last Spring. As for Serena Williams, let's give the 23 time Slam champion a little more time to shake-off the rust after her nearly 14 month layoff from competition while she was pregnant and became a first-time mother.
Legitimate female contenders in 2018 aside from Muguruza, include World No. 1 Simona Halep who was oh-so-close a year ago. The Romanian was heavily favored heading into the final vs Ostapenko last year but could not capitalize despite being up a break in the third set. Another Slam disappointment happened for Halep to start this year as she lost the Aussie Open final to Caroline Wozniacki. Halep however has maintained a positive attitude thanks in part to her own internal sense of competition but also due to the wonderful influence that her coach Darren Cahill has on her. Halep is widely considered to be the leading contender to win the French Open and finally break through the barrier to her first career major.
Photo: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography
Other noteworthy competitors who will also be in good standing to triumph in Paris among the women are rising star Elina Svitolina, former World No. 1 and 2017 semifinalist Karolina Pliskova and two time semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky if she's healthy and has some matches under her belt, as she only recently returned to the tour following a few months off due to injury.
Aside from Rafael Nadal, the men's and women's fields are really wide open with a list of younger and more experienced contenders at this year's edition of Roland Garros. Tune-in again later in May to see how the above mentioned players have navigated the lead-up tournaments on the red dirt and who is poised to achieve Grand Slam Glory in Paris.
Tuesday at the French Open saw the upsets continue in the women's draw with 7th seeded Johanna Konta taken out by 109th ranked Hsieh Su-Wei of Tapei. Konta's success on the hardcourts did not translate onto clay this year as her record on the red dirt now sits at 2-4.
Alize Cornet gave the home crowd something to cheer about as she dismissed Timea Babos in three sets 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2. Cornet was 1-3 on clay this year coming into the match but no-doubt drew on the French support for inspiration. Her best result here is the fourth round back in 2015.
Babos - showing some visible frustration above - finishes the clay court season with but a single win in the five events she entered.
The French also had the pleasure of watching 28th seed Caroline Garcia advance with ease 6-2, 6-2 over Nao Hibino of Japan. With Konta now out of the draw, Garcia has a clearer path towards a possible quarter-final against 9th seed Aga Radwanska.
Garcia was all smiles as she moved onto the second round.
Anastasija Sevastova lost her balance but not the match as she knocked-off German Annika Beck 6-2, 6-4. The Latvian is coming in hot with a 9-4 record on clay including victories over Sam Stosur, Karolina Pliskova and Johanna Konta.
Mona Barthel was visibly upset with her result today and joined a throng of other Germans who made an early exit this year at the tournament. Barthel was dismantled by Tsvetana Pironkova 6-0, 6-4.
Romanian Sorana Cirstea was pumped-up with her smooth 6-3, 6-1 victory over Shuai Peng who was playing in her 10th Roland Garros and won the doubles crown here in 2014. For Cirstea it is another step in the right direction for someone who is currently ranked 64th but was once ranked just outside of the top-twenty and and made the quarter-finals in Paris back in 2009.
Elina Svitolina is getting a lot of buzz as a potential French Open winner and dispatched the always tricky Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 6-3 in her opening match. Shvedova was a quarterfinalist here in both 2010 and 2012. Svitolina could see Ana Konjuh in the third round and Sevastova in the fourth. A blockbuster quarter-final against Halep would be fun to watch as Svitolina knocked-off Halep in the finals in Rome recently.
Take a good look at Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. The 17 year old lefty phenom has been crushing her opponents since entering the qualifying draw here and has only dropped 8 games through 4 matches. On Tuesday she destroyed Amandine Hesse 6-1, 6-0.
Amandine Hesse was feeling the pain after that dismantling from Vondrousova.
Back in action was Madison Keys who delivered the 6-3, 6-2 win over Ashley Barty. The 12th seed made the fourth round here a year ago but has struggled with a wrist injury this year that has limited her to but five events. Tuesday marked her first win on clay this season so maybe she is about to turn things around.
Third seeded Simona Halep is likely the favorite at this point if she has recovered from an ankle issue that bothered her coming into the tournament. She advanced in straight sets on Tuesday 6-2, 6-3 versus Jana Cepelova.
If Halep can avoid any issues with the ankle she could finally have the Grand Slam breakthrough that people have been waiting for ever since she made the finals of Roland Garros back in 2014. With Serena Williams out of the picture, this would be the perfect opportunity for the Romanian.
And finally, for Canadian tennis fans it has not been easy following Genie Bouchard since her breakthrough performance back in 2014. She started slow today against Risa Ozaki from Japan but recovered to move into the second round with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Bouchard will next face the tournament's 17th seed in Anastasija Sevastova.