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Former French Open runner-up, Sloane Stephens advanced to the second round of the tournament on Monday with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Karolina Pliskova. The American took an hour and 24 minutes to complete the win. Stephens took control over the proceedings from the start even as Pliskova struggled to find rhythm on her shots.
The Czech was playing her second tournament since having to miss the Mutua Madrid Open with an injury to her left knee. When she took to the courts in Paris, the former world no. 1 had her knee taped. The only time in the match when Pliskova gained an upper hand was in the second set when she broke Stephens in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead.
However, she promptly ceded the break back to Stephens and the latter never looked back in the match as she secured a second, decisive break in the 10th game to clinch a place in the next round. Stephens won 73% of her first-serve points to Pliskova’s 58%.
She also won 14 of 18 points on return on Pliskova’s second serve. Stephens finished the match with 19 winners to Pliskova’s 16. She had just 10 unforced errors to her opponent’s 31. In the second round, the former no.
3 in the world will play either Varvara Gracheva or Dalma Galfi.
French Open: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova ousts Linda Fruhvirtova
Camila Osorio, who made it to the main draw as a last-minute lucky loser also moved into the second round.
The Colombian dropped the opening set against Ana Bogdan but managed to secure a comeback win for herself, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 after two hours and nine minutes. Donna Vekic, the 22nd seed also made it through with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska.
The Croatian needed an hour and 26 minutes to complete the match. Lastly, another former French Open finalist made it to the round-of-64. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Czech teen, Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-2 in 70 minutes in their opening-round clash to keep herself in contention in the Major.
