Sloane Stephens leads 4 American ladies into 2nd spherical of French Open

PARIS (AP) — Back on her “favorite court in the world,” Sloane Stephens regarded sharp in her opening match on the French Open with a 6-0, 6-4 win over two-time main finalist Karolina Pliskova.

While Stephens’ solely Grand Slam title got here on the 2017 U.S. Open, she’s additionally had sustained success at Roland Garros, ending as a runner-up to Simona Halep in 2018 and reaching two quarterfinals on the pink clay in Paris – together with final 12 months.

“This is my favorite court in the world, so I’m super happy to be back,” Stephens instructed the group on Court Philippe Chatrier. “To start a Slam on your favorite court, your favorite surface, is always incredible.”

She helped American ladies go 4-0 via the primary few hours of play on Day 2 of the match after a 1-4 begin on Sunday, when the one U.S. victory got here in a match between two gamers from the nation: Jessica Pegula beat Danielle Collins.

Madison Keys, the runner-up to Stephens in New York six years in the past and a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2018, beat Kaia Kanepi 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 on Monday to enhance her profession file within the first spherical of majors to 35-5.

Keys subsequent performs American qualifier Kayla Day, who eradicated French wild-card entry Kristina Mladenovic 7-5, 6-1.

Also, Croatian-born American Bernarda Pera beat former No. 2-ranked Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (6), 6-2.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a finalist in Paris in 2021, breezed previous Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-2; and Twenty second-seeded Donna Vekic beat qualifier Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 7-5.

Stephens was down a break within the second set in opposition to Pliskova however then gained three straight video games to shut it out.

Stephens had a 19-16 edge in winners and dedicated solely 10 unforced errors to 31 by Pliskova, who misplaced within the finals of the U.S. Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2021.

“This court is a bit tricky. You have to play on it a lot to understand when the wind is blowing and where it’s coming,” Stephens mentioned. “The more you play on it, the more you understand it. But it’s a very complicated court. But that’s what makes it so amazing.”

Stephens gained a small clay-court match in Saint Malo, France, at the beginning of the month and in addition reached the semifinals of the Morocco Open final week after solely enjoying a complete of three matches at larger clay occasions in Madrid and Rome.