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Jessica Pegula won the American derby against Danielle Collins in the first round of the French Open on Sunday evening. The third seed needed an hour and 22 minutes to wrap up a 6-4, 6-2 win. Collins was playing for the first time this year on clay since exiting the Charleston Open in the first round at the start of the clay season in April.
Pegula won 78% of her first-serve points to Collins’ 55%. Both players, however, struggled to do well on their second serve. Pegula won 27% to Collins’ 22%. Not much separated the two players in terms of winners, Pegula hit 19 to Collins’ 17.
However, the latter was done in by the unforced errors she hit. Collins had more than twice as many unforced errors as Pegula’s 12 (25). In the second round, Pegula will take on Camila Giorgi. The Italian came through without much ado against local Alize Cornet, 6-3, 6-4 in their opening-round clash.
French Open: Karolina Muchova makes a strong start
The biggest upset on the opening day was that of eighth seed Maria Sakkari. Karolina Muchova ousted the Greek 7-6(5), 7-5 in a little over two hours. Playing on Suzanne Lenglen, across both sets it was Sakkari who went up a break early on.
However, despite falling behind on her serve, Muchova never seemed to be out of contention in the match and was able to quickly recover lost ground. Both players’ shot-making oscillated from clean winners to shanked errors but when cornered, it was Muchova who was able to execute her shots better.
Muchova had 23 winners to Sakkari’s 16. The Czech also finished with six fewer unforced errors than the Greek’s 35. Across both sets, it was Muchova who first brought up set points and match points respectively. In the second set, Muchova failed to convert two match points on Sakkari’s serve in the 10th game.
She had two more match points on Sakkari’s last service game, in the 12th game of the set. And while she wasn’t able to make good on her third match point either, a forced error from Sakkari put Muchova through to the round-of-64.
Looking to reach the third round of the French Open for the third year in a row, Karolina Muchova will now play Nadia Podoroska. Photo Credit: French Open Twitter 