The opening day of qualies for the Roland Garros 2023 is already behind us with 32 out of 64 matches scheduled for the 1st out of 3 qualifying rounds being completed being played on Monday since the morning till the late afternoon on the courts, where the main draw action will start in just 6 days.
Margaux Rouvroy has performed the biggest sensation of the day. The 22 years-old French awarded with the wild card entry into qualifying, made an upset on Sofia Kenin. The player who is placed 278th in the WTA ranking, eliminated the Australian Open 2020 champion in the opening round of qualies by winning in straight sets 6-4 6-3. Kenin was an obvious favorite ahead of this match, being rated with an odd 1.14. The American, who showed some signs of possible come back into good form in recent weeks, including the victory over the current WTA Race leader Aryna Sabalenka in the last WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, started the match well by gaining the break advantage in the opening game. Kenin was leading with a break in both sets, but the French managed to overplay the favorized opponent and come back from being down on the scoreline in both cases. Rouvroy made a crucial hold in 7th game of the opening set, while being 2-4 and defending 2 breakpoints to stay in any touch in this set. After clearing the danger, Rouvroy won 3 games in a row, including two breaks on her opponent, to clinch the first set. Kenin tried to force the decider and was leading with a break again in second set, but Rouvroy responded with another series of 4 games won in a row to make a huge upset on possibly the biggest name in the WTA qualifying field.
This was not the biggest upset on the paper though. While Rouvroy was an underdog with an odd 5.40 in the prior to match against Kenin, Sesil Karantcheva has eliminated Fernanda Contreras Gomez, despite being rated with an odd 7.66 before the match against the the Mexican listed 198th in the WTA rankings. The Bulgarian comes back to the professional competition after 4 years of break and today's victory is her first one since April 2019, breaking the series of 7 loses in the row, including those before and after the comeback into the circuit. Karatantcheva has lost the opening set to the banker pre-match favorite, but fought back to win 3-6 6-1 6-3 in general. Camila Osorio will be the next opponent of the Bulgarian in the second round. The qualies top seed made her job done well early in the morning, as she scored the routine win over Raluca Serban. Osorio has started quite slowly, as her opponent gained the early break and was leading 3-1 in the first set, but the Colombian has eventually eliminated the world's number 191 with a score 6-4 6-3.
The other notable names have also prevailed today. The third seed Arantxa Rus has won against the local player Audrey Albie 6-2 6-3. Mirra Andreeva gave no chance to her fellowcountry Polina Kudermetova in the battle between the 16 and 19 years-old Russians. The sensation of the last month's WTA 1000 Madrid Open has moved into next round with a score 6-1 6-4. Dayana Yastremska has not disappointed in the role of strong favorite against Alexandra Ignatik and secured her spot in 2nd qualies round by winning 7-5 6-3. Elena Gabriela Ruse has panned out to be better in possibly the most intriguing match-up of the day against another Romanian - Jaqueline Cristian. Ruse has won 6-3 6-4 and sets up another interesting match in second round, where she meets the 25th seeded Greet Minnen, who defeated Katharina Hogbarski from Germany, 6-4 6-2.
11 out of 32 matches has ended up in three sets today. The longest one was played between Noma Noha Akugue and Emma Lene. The 19 years-old Akugue from Germany, listed 219th in the WTA rankings, defeated the French wild card receiver 7-5 4-6 6-4 after 3:13 hours of play. The biggest turnover has happened in the match between Sachia Vickery and the 16th seed Marina Bassols. The seeded Spaniard was leading by set and break in the middle of second set. The American leveled the score, but Bassols created 3 matchpoints in 12th game during Vickery's serve. The world's number 169 cleared whole the danger and turned this match over by winning the tiebreak in a comfortable way (7-1) and completely outplaying her opponent in the decisive set, ending it up with a bagel. 2-6 7-6(1) 6-0 is the final score.
