PARIS (Reuters) -Highlights of the first day at the French Open on Sunday (times GMT): 1818 VEKIC ACES PAST BLINKOVA Paris Olympics finalist and Croatian 18th seed Donna Vekic beat Russia’s Anna Blinkova 7-5 6-7(4) 6-1 in the first round, landing nine aces in the match while Blinkova had none. 1650 TIAFOE BEATS SAFIULLIN American […]
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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):
1818 VEKIC ACES PAST BLINKOVA
Paris Olympics finalist and Croatian 18th seed Donna Vekic beat Russia’s Anna Blinkova 7-5 6-7(4) 6-1 in the first round, landing nine aces in the match while Blinkova had none.
1650 TIAFOE BEATS SAFIULLIN
American 15th seed Frances Tiafoe beat Russia’s Roman Safiullin 6-4 7-5 6-4, setting up a second-round clash with Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.
1550 MUSETTI TAKES DOWN HANFMANN
Italian eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti beat German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 7-5 6-2 6-0 to reach the second round.
He will next face wildcard Valentin Royer or lucky loser Daniel Elahi Galan.
1514 SHNAIDER DEFEATS SOBOLEVA
Russian 11th seed Diana Shnaider beat Ukrainian qualifier Anastasiya Soboleva 7-6(3) 6-2 to set up a second-round clash with Dayana Yastremska, another Ukrainian.
1315 PAUL FIGHTS BACK TO BEAT MOLLER
American 12th seed Tommy Paul fought back from a set down to beat Elmer Moller 6-7(5) 6-2 6-3 6-1, setting up a second-round clash with Marton Fucsovics.
1308 ZHENG OUTPLAYS PAVLYUCHENKOVA
Chinese eighth seed Zheng Qinwen beat Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-3 to reach the second round.
Matches on the outdoor courts resumed after the rain stopped.
1150 RAIN INTERRUPTS MATCHES IN OUTDOOR COURTS
All outdoor matches were suspended due to heavy rain. Play still underway on courts Philippe-Chatrier and Suzanne-Lenglen.
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, Chiranjit Ojha and Anita Kobylinska, editing by Ed Osmond)