PARIS, May 25 – Four-time French Open winner Iga Swiatek advanced smoothly into the second round with an easy win on Monday, while another beloved champion at Roland Garros could not extend his tournament run as Stan Wawrinka played his final match in Paris.
French favorite Gael Monfils, who like Wawrinka plans to retire at season’s end, hopes to continue his tournament when he faces fellow Frenchman Hugo Gaston during the evening session on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Swiatek has struggled to find her best form on tour in recent months, but returning to Paris’s clay courts provided the ideal setting to regain her timing with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Australia’s Emerson Jones.
“I’m really happy with the way I played,” said the Polish player, who seeks her seventh Grand Slam championship. “It was a solid match from the beginning to the end. I technically knew how to play, so I just did it, and it was a good day, for sure.”
While Swiatek played during cooler conditions, Paris Olympics gold medalist Zheng Qinwen battled the intense heat and fell 6-4 6-0 to Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska.
Zheng has shown uneven results following elbow surgery last year and explained to media that Chwalinska’s high-bouncing shots disrupted her game plan on the smaller court seven.
“She has a good game on clay and the court was really small when she played high balls to me,” said Zheng, whose ranking will fall from world number 56 to outside the top 100. “I couldn’t go more back like on the big courts. That also makes a difference … honestly, the conditions were tough for me. The weather has been really hot.”
HUGE SCARE
Recent Rome champion Elina Svitolina also faced difficult conditions during the afternoon but managed to overcome a major challenge, defeating Anna Bondar 3-6 6-1 7-6 (10-3) before her husband Monfils represents the veteran players later in the day.
Wawrinka, another member of the veteran group at age 41, battled hard in a 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4 loss to Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong before receiving recognition from supporters on Court Simonne Mathieu and tennis legends in a video tribute.
“I’m always surprised to receive so much love and so much support from other players or from the fans or from tournaments in general,” the 2015 champion told reporters. “I’ve been on tour for more than 20 years. When I was young, my dream was to be a professional player, to be in the top 100, to have the opportunity to play those tournaments.”
“I never expected to achieve so much in the tennis, but I never put any limit on my career. I always wanted more. I always walk out to get more, push myself, push my own limits, and try to find my own way to get there.”
“I’m happy and proud of what I achieved all these years. Today it was really tough. It’s never easy to say goodbye to something you love so much and you dedicate your life to.”
As Wawrinka concluded his Paris story, Spain’s Rafael Jodar started his with a dominant 6-1 6-0 6-4 victory over Aleksandar Kovacevic in his Roland Garros main draw debut, supporting the rising expectations surrounding him.
In other matches, world number two Elena Rybakina dispatched Veronika Erjavec easily with a 6-2 6-2 win for her tour-leading 31st victory this season, while Matteo Berrettini defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-7(2) 7-5 6-1 6-2 in his first Roland Garros appearance since 2021.
Former finalist Jasmine Paolini, Daria Kasatkina, Anastasia Potapova and Amanda Anisimova all secured straightforward wins to advance to the next round.
