PARIS — World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka sent an early warning to her French Open rivals, producing a dominant display in her first-round victory over Kamilla Rakhimova on Sunday.
Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, cranked up her serve under the roof of the main showcourt to blow away Rakhimova 6-1, 6-0 in exactly an hour.
The 27-year-old Sabalenka broke out to a 3-0 lead in the second set after scampering to a ball that had clipped the net cord and crushing a forehand winner.
“I’m super happy to be back in Paris,” said Sabalenka, who reached the semifinals in 2023. “… The first rounds are always tricky … but I’m super happy to get the win and go through.”
China’s Zheng Qinwen, who won an Olympic singles gold medal on the same court at last year’s Paris Games, eased past 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3 to stretch her winning run on the Parisian clay to seven matches.
“That feeling is unforgettable,” the eighth-seeded Qinwen said of her win at the Paris Olympics. “It is the best experience of my life so far. I will carry the gold-medal mentality all through this tournament.”
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina also made an impressive start Sunday, dropping just two games in a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez.
Canadian teen Victoria Mboko, making her Grand Slam debut, used her big serve and terrific backhand to beat 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lulu Sun 6-1, 7-6 (4). Mboko reached a top speed of 115 mph and delivered seven aces on her serve. She won all 10 of her service games, saving all seven break points accumulated by Sun.
“This does, obviously, feel really quick for me,” said the 18-year-old Mboko, who has been represented by talent agency IMG since the age of 12. “Although it feels quick, I feel like I’m also adapting very quickly. I want to be in this level. To adapt really fast is really important to me. The more I feel like I make it seem normal to me, the more normal it’s going to be in these tournaments.”
In other matches, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who secured her first win since returning from maternity leave at the Italian Open last week, bowed out with a 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 loss to Viktorija Golubic.
Germany’s Eva Lys ousted American Peyton Stearns, the No. 28 seed, with a 6-0, 6-3 win.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
