By Shrivathsa Sridhar
PARIS, May 25 (Reuters) – Four-times French Open champion Iga Swiatek charged into the second round with a comfortable victory on Monday, but another much-admired winner in Paris was unable to extend his stay as Stan Wawrinka bowed out of Roland Garros for the final time.
French favourite Gael Monfils, who like Wawrinka will end his career when the season concludes, will look to prolong his campaign when he plays compatriot Hugo Gaston in the evening session on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Swiatek has found it hard to hit her stride on the tour in recent months but a return to the red dirt of Paris offered her the perfect platform to rediscover her rhythm and she did it with a 6-1 6-2 win over Australian Emerson Jones.
“I’m really happy with the way I played,” said the Pole, who is bidding for her seventh Grand Slam title overall.
“It was a solid match from the beginning to the end. I technically knew how to play, so I just did it, and it was a good day, for sure.”
While Swiatek avoided the worst of the blazing afternoon sun, Paris Olympics gold medallist Zheng Qinwen struggled to cope with the heat and wilted in a 6-4 6-0 defeat by Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska.
Zheng has been inconsistent since having elbow surgery last year and told reporters later that she was affected by the loopy shots that Chwalinska used to disrupt her rhythm on the smaller court seven venue.
“She has a good game on clay and the court was really small when she played high balls to me,” said Zheng, who is now set to drop from world number 56 to outside the top 100.
“I couldn’t go more back like on the big courts. That also makes a difference … honestly, the conditions were tough for me. The weather has been really hot.”
HUGE SCARE
In-form Rome champion Elina Svitolina was also made to sweat in the afternoon, but the Ukrainian survived a huge scare to see off Anna Bondar 3-6 6-1 7-6 (10-3) before her husband Monfils takes to the court later and flies the flag for the veterans.
Wawrinka, also part of that veteran group at 41, went down fighting in a 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat by Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong before being celebrated by fans on Court Simonne Mathieu and some of the game’s greats in a video tribute.
“I’m always surprised to receive so much love and so much support from other players or from the fans or from tournaments in general,” 2015 champion Wawrinka told reporters.
“I’ve been on tour for more than 20 years. When I was young, my dream was to be a professional player, to be in the top 100, to have the opportunity to play those tournaments.
“I never expected to achieve so much in the tennis, but I never put any limit on my career. I always wanted more. I always walk out to get more, push myself, push my own limits, and try to find my own way to get there.
“I’m happy and proud of what I achieved all these years. Today it was really tough. It’s never easy to say goodbye to something you love so much and you dedicate your life to.”
While Wawrinka finished his Paris chapter, Spain’s Rafael Jodar began his journey with an emphatic 6-1 6-0 6-4 win over Aleksandar Kovacevic on his Roland Garros main draw debut to back up the growing hype around him.
Elsewhere, world number two Elena Rybakina made short work of Veronika Erjavec with a 6-2 6-2 win for her tour-leading 31st victory this year while Matteo Berrettini beat Marton Fucsovics 6-7(2) 7-5 6-1 6-2 in his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2021.
Former runner-up Jasmine Paolini, Daria Kasatkina, Anastasia Potapova and Amanda Anisimova all sealed routine victories to go through to the next round.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar and Julien Pretot in Paris; Additional reporting by Vincent Daheron; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
