PARIS – World No. 1 Alina Sabalenka sent an early warning to her French open rival, creating the dominant exhibit in her first round victory against Camilla Lakimova on Sunday.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka cranked up his serve under the roof of the main show court, blowing Rakhimova 6-1, 6-0 in just an hour.
The 27-year-old Sabalenka took a 3-0 lead in the second set after clipping a netcode and running around towards the ball that crushed the forehand winner.
“I’m so happy to be back in Paris,” said Sabalenka, who reached the semi-finals in 2023.
China’s Zheng Qinwen, who won the Olympic singles gold medal in the same court at the Paris tournament last year, has extended his Paris clay victory to seven matches, past 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3.
“I will never forget that feeling,” said eighth seed Qinwen of his victory at the Parisio Games. “This is the best experience of my life. Through this tournament I carry the gold medal mentality.”
Ukrainian Erina Svitrina also got off to an impressive start on Sunday, dropping just two games in a 6-1, 6-1 defeat from Turkish Zeynep Sonmez.
Canada’s teenager Victoria M Boko made her grand slam debut and used her big serve and great backhand to beat 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lulussin 6-1, 7-6 (4). Mboko reached a top speed of 115 mph and delivered seven aces to the serve. She won all 10 service games and saved all seven breakpoints accumulated in Sun.
“This clearly feels really fast for me,” said Mboko, 18, who has been represented by talent agency IMG since the age of 12. “It feels fast, but I want to adapt to this level quickly, and adapting really quickly is really important to me.
In other matches, Wimbledon champion Petrakvitova, who won his first victory since returning from maternity leave at the Italian Open last week, resigned in a 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 defeat to Victoria Gorvich.
German Eva Rice took American Payton Stearns, 28th seed, 6-0, 6-3.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to the report.
