Serena Williams successfully inaugurated the nightly sessions of Roland-Garros with a victory over Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (74e) in two sets 7-6, 6-2 Monday 31 May evening.
At 39, the American is still looking for a 24th Grand Slam crown that would allow her to equal the all-time record for major titles held by Australian Margaret Court. Serena Williams, whose shoes bear the inscription “I will never stop”, will face another Romanian, Mihaela Buzarnescu, in the second round.
The Polish Iga Swiatek, defending champion on Parisian soil, for her part celebrated her 20e birthday on the Philippe-Chatrier court by dominating the Slovenian Kaja Juvan (6-0, 7-5).
The Spanish Garbine Muguruza, 13e world winner and winner in 2016 but handicapped by back pain, was eliminated by the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (81e) in two sets 6-1, 6-4.
In the men’s table, the Swiss Roger Federer had a quiet entry at Roland Garros for his first Grand Slam match in sixteen months: he dominated the Uzbek qualifier Denis Istomin (204th) 6-2, 6-4, 6- 3 in just over 1 h 30 min Monday May 31.
World number two, Daniil Medvedev for his part finally won a match at Porte d’Auteuil. The Russian won, Monday, May 31, his first victory at Roland Garros in five participations by beating, in the first round, the Kazakh Alexander Bublik (37e) in three sets: 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.
“This year, I thought I was really bad on clay. But from day one here I felt I could play very well. I almost feel like I’m on hard “, he explained after the match. In the next round, he will face the winner of the meeting between the American Tommy Paul (52e) and Australian Christopher O’Connell (129e).
At 25, Medvedev stood out for his hard performance, notably at the 2019 US Open (finalist) and the 2020 Masters, which he won. His poor results on clay had raised questions when he was awarded the number two seed at Roland Garros while Nadal was seeded number three, finding himself in the same part of the table as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
