French Open: Iga Swiatek kickstarts title defence with win

PARIS: Poland star Iga Swiatek kickstarted her French Open title defence with a win over Rebecca Sramkova on Monday. After being 3-1 down in the first set, Iga secured a win by 6-3, 6-3, as per the official website of WTA.

She will be playing Emma Raducanu in the next round, who beat Wang Xinyu 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in a 2-hour, 44-minute clash.

In the third round of the Australian Open back in January, Swiatek defeated Raducanu 6-0, 6-1 in just 1 hour and 10 minutes. She is yet to drop a set to Raducanu in four meetings.

Also, Elena Rybakina secured a well-fought win over Argentina’s qualifier Julia Riera by 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Rybakina took one hour and 45 minutes to defeat Julia and reach the second round in Paris for the sixth consecutive year. Her best performances in the French Open are quarterfinal runs from 2021 and last year.

Having secured her sixth win in a row, the Kazakh star will be aiming to keep her streak alive in the second round against 17-year-old American wild card Iva Jovic. (ANI)