Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam match as a first-time mom after defeating Kristyna Pliskova 7-6 (4), 6-4 at the French Open.
Williams, playing in her first Grand Slam match since winning the Australian Open in 2017, did not play her best tennis. She saved a set-point late in the first set but managed to win it in a tie-break. In the second, her serve was broken twice, but she managed to break Pliskova thrice to take the set 6-4. Just like a first-time mom takes small steps with a baby, Williams took one step at a time to be back to her best.
In an earlier match, Maria Sharapova needed three sets to dispatch world No 133 Richel Hogenkamp. Sharapova looked to be cruising into the next round after winning the first set in just 25 minutes (6-1), but Hogenkamp broke Sharapova three times to take the second 6-4. In the third set, it looked like Sharapova might be heading for an early exit after she went 0-3 down, but she came storming back, winning the next six games to clinch the set 6-3.
In the men’s singles, defending champion Rafael Nadal started his quest for an 11th French Open by almost dropping a set. But the ‘King of Clay’ lived up to his nickname, saving four set-points to make it 25 sets in a row at Roland-Garros by defeating Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (9).
Even winning just a single set off Nadal at Roland-Garros must feel like the tennis equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. Bolelli discovered this the hard way on Tuesday when he played some of the best tennis of his life, yet he still found himself failing to dent the great man’s aura.
Yet after all the magnificent resistance he demonstrated in the defeat, the Italian’s real service has shown the rest of the men’s field how to tackle Nadal on his favoured surface.
South Africa’s Kevin Anderson eased into the next round after defeating Paolo Lorenzi 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. Anderson hit 18 aces and was cruising after the first two sets, but he trailed 0-2 early in the third when rain interrupted proceedings. When play resumed, the sixth-seeded Anderson made light work of Lorenzi’s challenge and closed out the set 6-4.
Other selected women’s singles results:
Kiki Bertens defeated Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-1
Angelique Kerber defeated Mona Barthel 6-2, 6-3
Garbine Muguruza defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6(0), 6-2
Caroline Garcia defeated Ying-Ying Duan 6-1, 6-0
Other selected men’s singles results:
John Isner defeated Noah Rubin 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6(7)
Juan-Martin Del Potro defeated Nicolas Mahut 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Marin Cilic defeated James Duckworth 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (4)
Denis Shapovalov defeated John Millman 7-5, 6-4, 6-2
Photo: Corinne Dubreuil /FFT
