Swiatek starts title defence with win
Paris, May 31: Reigning women’s champion Iga Swiatek made a winning start to her French Open title defence with a straight-sets victory over Kaja Juvan on Monday, while men’s second seed Daniil Medvedev finally reached round two for the first time at Roland Garros.
Poland’s Swiatek, celebrating her 20th birthday, saw off her good friend Juvan 6-0, 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Medvedev, who had lost in the first round in all of his four previous appearances in the tournament, put his poor clay-court form behind him by beating the dangerous Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.
The 23-time Grand Slam
champion’s match against Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania will be played behind closed doors, though, due to a 9pm Covid-19 curfew imposed by the French
government.
Swiatek, who became the first major singles champion from Poland last October, hit 22 winners in an impressive opening to her bid for a second straight Roland Garros triumph.
MEDVEDEV ENDS MISERABLE RUN
It is not just in Paris that Medvedev has struggled on clay.
The Russian had lost eight of his previous nine matches on the surface dating back to 2019.
But the two-time Grand Slam runner-up was too strong for Kazakh Bublik, setting up a second-round tie against either Australian wildcard Christopher O’Connell or US player Tommy Paul.
“It was a good match and I’ve been training really well,” said the 25year-old Medvedev, who lost the Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic in February.