(Paris) Elena Rybakina is more and more comfortable on clay, and it shows, since she had another young Czech player en route to the third round of the French Open on Thursday.
The Wimbledon champion, seeded fourth at Roland-Garros, beat 18-year-old Linda Noskova 6-3, 6-3 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
You would think she was always comfortable on clay after winning the Italian Open, but the six-foot Kazakh draws her confidence on this playing surface from her imposing size.
“It’s my weapon of choice,” she said. But at the same time, it’s not easy to move around on clay. I always have to anticipate my movements and, of course, be patient during the exchanges. »
The Australian Open finalist slammed 30 winners, against 16 for Noskova, and the two players committed 26 unforced errors.
“I had trouble with my service,” admitted Rybakina, who was born in Moscow.
Rybakina, who defeated Brenda Fruhvirtova in the first round, will now find Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo on her way.
Elsewhere, Mirra Andreeva continues to turn heads at her first career Grand Slam tournament. The 16-year-old Russian ousted France’s Diane Parry 6-1, 6-2 in the second round, setting the stage for a possible duel against Coco Gauff. Andreeva conceded just six games in the first two rounds.
For its part, the 20e top-seeded Madison Keys committed an impressive 74 unforced errors en route to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 loss to fellow American Kayla Day on Simonne-Mathieu Court.
Day, a 23-year-old player who won the U.S. Open junior title in 2016, is ranked 138e in the world and had to make it through the qualifying board before ending up in the main program. She defeated the French Kristina Mladenovic in the first round.
Later today, the defending champion and world No. 1, Iga Swiatek, will have an appointment with the American Claire Liu. Coco Gauff — last year’s tournament runner-up — will cross swords with Austria’s Julia Grabher.
On the men’s side, Norway’s Casper Ruud, the fourth seed, reached the third round after defeating Giulio Zeppieri 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. For his part, the Australian Alex de Minaur bowed out before the Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Italian Jannik Sinner and American Frances Tiafoe are due to hit the clay courts in Paris later today.
