The opening round of Roland Garros 2023 is over, with all the pending matches from the top half of main draw got played today. 14 out of 32 seeds are already eliminated after first round, which is a record since the introduction of 32 seed spots in French Open. Despite this, all the biggest names who appeared on the court to day, are still in the contention.
Top contenders move through
Both the finalists from last year's edition of Roland Garros have appeared on the court today to make it through into second round. Iga Swiatek and Cori Gauff were both playing against lower ranked opponent from Spain, but the turn of events of both matches was quite different, as the American has needed to put much more effort to deny the first round upset today. Swiatek was playing against Cristina Bucsa, the Spaniard who got already crushed by the world's number one earlier this year during the third round of Australian Open, where Swiatek won 6-0 6-1. Today, Bucsa started much better, as she managed to gain two breaks in three opening service games of Swiatek and moved up into 3-2 lead. Swiatek has leveled the scoreline, but was in a trouble again while defending a breakpoint during the score 4-4. Bucsa has missed her chance and lost another game, to got defeated 4-6 in the opening set. The second one was a one-way traffic, as Swiatek has clicked the higher gear and won it 6-0, giving no chance to her opponent after a reall competitive opening set. Claire Liu is the next one for Swiatek after defeating the qualifier Ylena In Albon in straight sets.
Cori Gauff was in quite a bigger threat on paper, as the American has surprisingly lost the opening set to Rebecca Masarova. The world's number 71 has started the match flawlessly and moved up into 3-0 lead with a single break advantage. This was enough, as Masarova won the opening set 6-3. Despite this, the Spaniard was any close to win this match, as Gauff regrouped really well since then and allowed her lower ranked opponent to win just 3 games to the end of this match. Gauff moved through with a score 3-6 6-2 6-1. Julia Grabher will be the opponent of last year's runner-up in second round, and it can be a really interesting match-up. The Austrian is in the top form of her life so far, as she advanced into 3rd round in WTA 1000 Rome and played in the final of WTA 250 Rabat last week.
Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur were another big names to play today, and both started their Roland Garros campaign with a success. Rybakina was playing against the one of Czech youngsters, Brenda Fruhvirtova. The match was quite a contest in the opening set, as Fruhvirtova earned the break in 7th game to move up into 4-3 lead. Rybakina broke back a while later, but has needed to defend two breakpoints within a score 4-4. After this crucial hold, the Kazakh has added another break to take the whole set with a score 6-4. The 16 years-old Czech did not give up and started the second set better, moving up into 2-1 lead with a break. Rybakina raised up the pace since then and denied any trouble this afternoon by winning 5 games in a row. Another Czech teenager will be Rybakina's opponent in second round, as she plays against Linda Noskova there.
Ons Jabeur has denied the repeat of last year's first round exit from Roland Garros. The Tunisian had quite a tricky opponent drawn for the opening match, as she played Lucia Bronzetti, who won the WTA 250 in Rabat three days ago. Despite the good run of form, the Italian had no much response for a good performance of world's number 7, who has controlled the match from start to finish and won it 6-4 6-1 eventually. Oceane Dodin will be her opponent after prevailing in the all-French battle. The world's number 122 came back after losing the opening set against Selena Janicjevic to move into second round with a score 0-6 6-2 6-2.
Krejcikova is out
Barbora Krejcikova suffers a huge upset, as the Roland Garros 2021 champion ends up her Paris campaign on the opening match for the second time in a row. The Czech, who won both the singles and doubles competition two years ago, got eliminated by Diane Parry in the first match as a Grand Slam title holder, and did not approached any further this year after losing to Lesia Tsurenko. Krejcikova has started the season really well, but did not do any proper results in clay's part of the season so far. Despite this, the Czech was a pre-match favorite against Tsurenko, rated with an odd 1.29. The Ukrainian played a flawless opening set, winning it 6-2 and not allowing her higher rated opponent to create any single breakpoint. Krejcikova have tried to fight back in second set and done it well till some point, leading 3-0 with a double break. This was not enough though, as Tsurenko won 6 out of 7 following games and moved into second round in an impressive style.
Fairytale debiut for Andreeva
Mirra Andreeva is possibly the biggest sensation of the clay season in 2023. The 16 years-old Russian has showed up to the wider audience in Madrid, making an amazing run into the round of 16. The qualies campaign in Paris was also a flawless performance from Andreeva, who advanced into the main draw without losing a single set in three matches. The youngster was a banker favorite ahead of the match against Alison Riske Amritraj. The American has not played since Indian Wells and approached Paris after 2,5 months out of the competition, with a run of 7 loses in a row. The match against Andreeva was the 8th one, as the current world's number 143 gave away just 3 games to ensure the career's maiden Grand Slam win with a score 6-2 6-1 in just 57 minutes.
Andreeva is just one win away to enter the top 100 in the age of 16, which can result in no necessity to play the Grand Slam qualies again ahead of Wimbledon. Diane Parry will be her opponent in second round. The French wild card receiver has defeated Anhelina Kalinina 6-2 6-3. The Ukrainian has approached Paris not being fully fit after the run into final of WTA 1000 in Rome, where she caught up the leg injury. Despite this, Kalinina was a pre-match favorite related to odds, but Parry did not give her too much chances and moved through with a straight sets win.
