Paris: Serena Williams survived a first-round scare at the French Open yesterday as she battled back from a set down to defeat Russian world number 83 Vitalia Diatchenko.
The 37-year-old Serena, who is attempting to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles, racked up her 800th career main draw win with her 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory in front of a half-full Court Philippe Chatrier.
This was only Serena’s fifth match since collapsing to defeat late on against Karolina Pliskova in the Australian Open quarter-finals earlier this year, but she showed excellent form in the second and third sets in Paris.
“It wasn’t easy today, I’ve practised hard and I’m happy to win today,” said the 10th seed, who has not won a major title since the 2017 Australian Open.
The three-time French Open winner started poorly, and was punished as Diatchenko broke to love in the fifth game en route to the first set.
But having made 14 unforced errors in the opener, Serena made just 10 more in the rest of the match as she overpowered her opponent, dropping only one game in the process.
She will play either Japanese qualifier Kurumi Nara or Slovenian world number 104 Dalila Jakupovic in the next round.
Earlier yesterday, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki collapsed to a 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss to Russian world number 68 Veronika Kudermetova in the first round.
“I think she got very lucky at the start of the second set and took advantage of the opportunities she got,” said Wozniacki.
Last year’s Australian Open champion lost her way in the second set, though, making 10 unforced errors, before the 22-year-old Kudermetova cruised to victory in the decider on a sparsely-populated Court Philippe Chatrier.
“I was a little bit nervous at the start of the match, but I took it game by game and tried to be more aggressive,” said the Russian.
Kudermetova will face either Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas or French wildcard Audrey Albie in the second round.
Dutch fourth seed Kiki Bertens looked in fine fettle, though, beating home player Pauline Parmentier 6-3, 6-4.
Sixth seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova withdrew from the tournament before her first round match yesterday due to an injury to her forearm but the Czech is hopeful she will be able to compete at Wimbledon.
“I’m so disappointed to have to announce my withdrawal from Roland Garros,” the sixth seed said on Twitter before her match against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
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