The first round of qualifying for the Roland Garros 2023 is completed with another 32 matches played today in both the WTA and ATP fields. Today's matches did not bring any huge upsets, but some high seeds got already eliminated on the first step to the main draw of the second Grand Slam of the year.
Maja Chwalinska defeated the second seed of whole the WTA qualifying field, Lucrezia Stefanini. The world's number 105 was a favorite before the match with the Pole ranked 345th in the WTA list, but Chwalinska was not written off by the odds, as being rated by 2.14 for the advance into next round. Stefanini was very successful on hard in the recent weeks, as she won two ITF tournaments in April. The switch to clay was a struggle for the Italian though, as she approached the French Open qualies with 3 consecutive loses on the red brick. Chwalinska has dominated her more recognisable and much higher ranked opponent with a surprisingly easy manner, as the Pole crushed the qualies 2nd seed with a score 6-2 6-1.
Caroline Dolehide is another high seed who got eliminated today. The 5th seeded American has been defeated by Maria Carle in another one-sided match won by the lower ranked player, as the Argentinian won 6-1 6-2. Apart from that, Storm Hunter from Australia eliminated the 8th seed Viktorija Golubic with a score 6-4 6-2 and Mirjam Bjorklund has defeated the 9th seed Tamara Korpatsch, also in straight sets by 7-5 6-4.
Tuesday was a very successful day for the Czech teenagers, as both Brenda Fruhvirtova and Sara Bejlek advanced into second round after tough three-setters. The 17 years-old Bejlek was supposed to play against one of the highest seed Laura Siegemund, who needed to pull out due to an injury. Arianne Hartono, the world's number 224 from Netherlands got a chance instead, and won the opening set against the young Czech in tiebreak. Bejlek managed to fight back though and moved further with a score 6-7(2) 6-4 6-4. Fruhvirtova played against Antonia Ruzic, the 20 years-old Croatian ranked 230th in the WTA list. Despite the Czech was a favorite there, the match was a tight battle till the end, settled in the super tie-break. Fruhvirtova was leading 4-2 in the deciding set, but Ruzic prevailed to come back and forced the tiebreak. The Croatian was the first player to earn the matchpoint, which was a big chance for her while serving within a score 9-8. Ruzic did not capitalize on this opportunity, as she lost 2 serving points in a row and allowed Fruhvirtova to come back from this to win the super tiebreak and whole the match with a score 3-6 6-2 7-6(10).
It was not the only one match settled in the super tiebreak today. Polona Hercog has defeated Harmony Tan in the longest match of the day, winning 5-7 6-0 7-6(4). The experienced Slovenian, who comes back to competition after one year of break, was very close to get eliminated in 12th game of the deciding set. Hercog was serving to stay alive in the match and defended two matchpoints from being 15-40 down. After this crucial hold, the Slovenian was dominant in the decisive tiebreak and won it 10-4, closing the match which lasted 2:55 hours.
