PARIS (Reuters) – Highlights of the second day at the French Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, on Monday (all times GMT):
1505 SERENA STORMS PAST AHN
Three-times Roland Garros champion Serena Williams cruised into the second round with a 7-6(2) 6-0 victory over fellow American Kristie Ahn.
Sixth seed Williams will next face Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in a rematch of their U.S. Open quarter-final, which the American won over three sets earlier this month.
1500 SVITOLINA EASES INTO ROUND TWO
Strasbourg champion Elina Svitolina, chasing her maiden Grand Slam title, extended her brilliant run on clay with a 7-6(2) 6-4 victory over Russian Varvara Gracheva.
1450 FOGNINI MAKES FIRST-ROUND EXIT
Fabio Fognini was knocked out by Mikhail Kukushkin in the first round, with the Kazakh winning 7-5 3-6 7-6(1) 6-0 on Court Simonne Mathieu.
Fognini, ranked 14 in the world, has won only once in four tournaments now since the season restarted last month and the Italian 14th seed was far from his best, making 48 unforced errors.
1350 ERROR-PRONE AUGER ALIASSIME OUT IN STRAIGHT SETS
Canadian youngster Felix Auger Aliassime was knocked out 7-5 6-3 6-3 by Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
Nishioka fired 30 winners past the 19th seed, who made 58 unforced errors and was broken six times.
1305 BERTENS FIGHTS BACK TO BEAT ZAVATSKA
Fifth-seeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens came back from a set down to overcome Ukraine’s Katarina Zavatska 2-6 6-2 6-0.
Bertens will next face 2012 finalist Sara Errani, who had to come through qualifying before claiming a 6-2 6-1 opening-round win over Puerto Rican Monica Puig.
1300 DOMINANT THIEM PASSES CILIC TEST
U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem, twice French Open runner-up, recovered from a slow start to beat former world number three Marin Cilic 6-4 6-3 6-3 in just over two hours.
1230 PIRONKOVA GLIDES PAST PETKOVIC
Bulgarian wildcard Tsvetana Pironkova, who reached the U.S. Open quarter-finals in her first tour-level appearance since 2017, breezed into the second round in Paris with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.
1045 KVITOVA SAILS INTO SECOND ROUND
Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova advanced to the second round with a 6-3 7-5 victory over local favourite Oceane Dodin, firing eight aces and 30 winners while winning 86% of her first serve points.
0908 PLAY UNDERWAY AT ROLAND GARROS
Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova began her first-round match against unseeded Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin under the retractable roof at Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Serena Williams, gunning for her 24th Grand Slam title, faces compatriot Kristie Ahn.
Defending champion Rafa Nadal begins his campaign against Egor Gerasimov.
The event will welcome 1,000 fans daily amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram, Rohith Nair and Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond, Christian Radnedge and Clare Fallon)
