Paris, June 1 (IANS) No.5 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine came back from a 2-5 second set deficit to defeat teenage wildcard Oceane Babel of France 6-2, 7-5 to enter the second round of the French Open on Tuesday.
No.13 seed Jennifer Brady of the USA too secured a place in the second round with an easy win against Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-3. But former French Open champion and No. 12 seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain made an early exit, losing to Ukrainian teenager Marta Kostyuk 1-6, 4-6.
This was 18-year-old Marta's first win over a top 20 opponent, and it came in 89 minutes against the 2016 French Open champion.
No.25 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia beat Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-2. Ons will next face Australian wildcard Astra Sharma -- who defeated qualifier Irina Bara or Romania 7-6(5), 6-2 -- in the second round.
After easing to the first set against the junior world No.7 Oceane, Elina nearly paid the price for a lapse in concentration in the second. Leaking 15 unforced errors, frequently from commanding positions in rallies, she dropped serve to fall behind 0-3.
Garbine, a two-time Grand Slam title winner, struggled with a medical time-out midway through the match against teenager Marta. She eventually lost for the first time in her career in the opening round of the French Open.
"I was so ready and so prepared. My aggressive game today, I'm really glad it worked. I want to keep on going with this game," Marta said at the press conference.
--IANS
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