PARIS (Reuters) – Third seed Aryna Sabalenka moved into the second round of the French Open with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Ana Konjuh on Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Sunday.
Sabalenka, who is seeking her maiden Grand Slam title, sent out a warning earlier this month when she won the Madrid Open but she struggled to get going in the opening set and quickly found herself 4-2 down to the Croatian qualifier.
However, the Belarusian regained her composure and broke Konjuh three times, creating angles to open up the court before using her power to fire winners as she took the opening set.
Sabalenka raced to a 3-1 lead in the second set with two more breaks of serve as Konjuh faltered with a string of double faults while her unforced error count also rose.
Despite saving a match point with a hold of serve, Konjuh bowed out when she found the net on Sabalenka’s second match point.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
