PARIS (Reuters) – Highlights of the first day at the French Open on Sunday (times GMT): 1114 SABALENKA BLASTS PAST RAKHIMOVA World number one Aryna Sabalenka needed just an hour to overpower Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1 6-0 in the first round, striking 30 winners on Court Philippe-Chatrier. 1023 SVITOLINA BREEZES PAST SONMEZ TO REACH SECOND […]
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Tennis-French Open Day One
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PARIS (Reuters) – Highlights of the first day at the French Open on Sunday (times GMT):
1114 SABALENKA BLASTS PAST RAKHIMOVA
World number one Aryna Sabalenka needed just an hour to overpower Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1 6-0 in the first round, striking 30 winners on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
1023 SVITOLINA BREEZES PAST SONMEZ TO REACH SECOND ROUND
In the women’s singles first round, Ukrainian 13th seed Elina Svitolina eased past Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez 6-1 6-1 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
0910 PLAY UNDERWAY
Play began under cloudy skies with the temperature at Roland Garros hovering around 17 degrees Celsius. Showers and a thunderstorm are forecast early in the day.
Aryna Sabalenka will begin her bid for a first crown at Roland Garros when she meets Russian Kamilla Rakhimova on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
SUNDAY’S ORDER OF PLAY ON MAIN SHOWCOURTS (prefix number denotes seeding)
COURT PHILIPPE-CHATRIER (play begins at 1000 GMT)
1-Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) v Kamilla Rakhimova (Russia)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) v 8-Zheng Qinwen (China)
8-Lorenzo Musetti (Italy) v Yannick Hanfmann (Germany)
Not before 2015 GMT
13-Ben Shelton (United States) v Lorenzo Sonego (Italy)
COURT SUZANNE-LENGLEN (play begins at 0900 GMT)
Zeynep Sonmez (Turkey) v 13-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
31-Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (France) v Zizou Bergs(Belgium)
15-Frances Tiafoe (United States) v Roman Safiullin (Russia)
4-Jasmine Paolini (Italy) v Yuan Yue (China)
COURT SIMONNE-MATHIEU (play begins at 0900 GMT)
Elmer Moller (Denmark) v 12-Tommy Paul (United States)
11-Diana Shnaider (Russia) v Anastasiya Soboleva (Ukraine)
18-Donna Vekic (Croatia) v Anna Blinkova (Russia)
21-Tomas Machac (Czech Republic) v Quentin Halys (France)
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(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)