Simona Halep suffered a scare but eventually triumphed 2-6 6-1 6-1 in her delayed first-round match against Alison Riske at the French Open.
The weather in Paris saw Halep's opener pushed back to Wednesday and she rode out an early storm to book her place in the second round.
Caroline Wozniacki's progression to round three was far more straightforward in a 6-1 6-0 demolition of Georgina Garcia Perez, while Petra Kvitova was similarly emphatic in beating Lara Arruabarrena 6-0 6-4.
In the doubles, the Williams sisters had to come from behind to advance to the next stage.
HALEP RUNS THE RISKE
World number one Halep put her slow start down to nerves.
"I felt the nerves," she said. "I didn't feel the pressure, because I know that every match is tough at this tournament, so I don't expect anything.
"But what I expect from myself is to go there and to play as I play in practice. So, this is the only one thing that I'm following and I want to have on court.
"The result, it's going to come if I play well. If not, I just have to fight and to try to not give up even one point."
WOZNIACKI OFF TO A FLYER
Wozniacki took just 51 minutes to book her place in the third round, where she will face wildcard Pauline Parmentier, who upset Alize Cornet on Wednesday.
The Dane could be forgiven for wishing her match took a little longer, allowing her more of an opportunity to get used to the surface and the atmosphere.
But second seed Wozniacki disagreed when that point was put to her after the match.
"Definitely not. I wish all my matches were like this and I could win with this scoreline," she said.
LUCKY FOR SOME...
Kvitova's win against Arruabarrena gave her a 13th consecutive victory on clay and she says the hand injury sustained during a robbery at her home at the end of 2016 is not bothering her.
"My hand, it's great, it's not painful at all," she said. "I don't think I have any secret. I just worked pretty hard to get ready physically. Not only for the clay. It's been already from the off-season.
"But obviously on the clay it's a little bit different, and I had a great preparation, as well.
"I wasn't injured, so I really could go for it. So far it's really working well.
"I think the game has to be really changing a little bit on the clay, as well, and not really going that much for the winners. Yeah, so far I'm really glad with that."
WILLIAMS SISTERS COME FROM BEHIND
Serena Williams made a successful return to grand slam singles tennis on Tuesday but endured a scare in the doubles competitions with sister Venus on Wednesday.
The American siblings had to come from behind Japanese duo Shuko Aoyama and Miyu Kato.
Comments
SHARE