Sunday 27 May 2018 17:34, UK
Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina overcame a slow start to sweep past Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5 6-3 and become the first big name to reach the second round of the French Open on Sunday.
The 23-year-old, who won her second consecutive Italian Open title last weekend, made a nervous start on Court Suzanne Lenglen, falling 5-1 down, but battled back and levelled the opening set as Tomljanovic dumped a backhand into the net after a bruising point.
The Australian's collapse was complete as Svitolina wrapped up the set with six consecutive games.
Svitolina saved a break point in the first game of the second set, and finished off an ultimately comfortable victory on her first match point as Tomljanovic fired wide.
"It was not an easy start and I had to really wake up. I had to step up my game," Svitolina said.
She will next play either 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone or Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova for a place in the third round.
Elsewhere, ninth seed and 2002 finalist Venus Williams fell in straight sets to Qiang Wang, who upset the seven-time Grand Slam champion 6-4 7-5.
It means the disappointment continues for Venus is 2018, with the 37-year-old also exiting the Australian Open at the first-round stage back in January.
Reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens eased into round two at the French Open with a 6-2 6-0 thrashing of Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus.
The American 10th seed was utterly dominant from the off and raced to victory in only 49 minutes on Court 18.
The 25-year-old will next face either Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech or Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, both of whom are ranked outside the top 100.
France's Alize Cornet dug deep to recover from a set down to defeat Italian Sara Errani 2-6 6-2 6-3 in a show of powerful baseline hitting to progress.
