Roland-Garros: A tale of two sets as Swiatek beats Bucsa to make second round

World No. 1 and the defending champion Iga Swiatek made a slow start in her opening match, before coming through in straight sets against Spaniard Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 6-0 to reach the second round.

Swiatek struggled with her serve in the first set, being broken twice by her opponent. But she was aggressive enough on return to ensure that first set went her way, before rolling through the second in a style the tennis world has become accustomed to watching from the Pole.

As defending champion and world No. 1, there was some talk prior to the tournament about differences in pressure and expectation coming into this tournament for Swiatek compared with previous years.

These concerns were highlighted as the clay-court maestro grappled with her service games early on. However, with the first set under her belt, the three-time Grand Slam champion was able to swing freely in the second and ran out a comfortable winner in the end.

She will next face the winner of the match between Swiss qualifier Ylena In-Albon and American Claire, with a potential meeting with Elena Rybakina – who also won today – coming in the last four.

Paris (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 49.600.000, most recent results first):

• Erika Andreeva vs. Emma Navarro
• Petra Martic vs. Shelby Rogers
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Bianca Andreescu: tuesday
• Ylena In-Albon vs. Claire Liu: tuesday
• Lauren Davis beat Lin Zhu: 6-3, 6-3
• Elena Rybakina (4) beat Brenda Fruhvirtova (Q): 6-4, 6-2
• Jasmine Paolini beat Sorana Cirstea (30): 7-5, 2-6, 6-2
• Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Clara Burel (WC): 7-6, 6-2
• Lesia Tsurenko beat Barbora Krejcikova (13): 6-2, 6-4
• Julia Grabher beat Arantxa Rus (Q): 6-2, 6-3
• Linda Noskova beat Danka Kovinic: 6-3, 2-1 ret.
• Coco Gauff (6) beat Rebeka Masarova: 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
• Oceane Dodin beat Selena Janicijevic (WC): 0-6, 6-2, 6-1
• Olga Danilovic (Q) beat Kateryna Baindl: 6-3, 6-2
• Ons Jabeur (7) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-4, 6-1
• Diane Parry (WC) beat Anhelina Kalinina (25): 6-2, 6-3
• Xinyu Wang beat Marie Bouzkova (31): 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Rebecca Peterson beat Fiona Ferro (Q): 6-2, 6-0
• Mirra Andreeva (Q) beat Alison Riske-Amritraj: 6-2, 6-1
• Jelena Ostapenko (17) beat Tereza Martincova: 6-3, 7-5
• Simona Waltert (Q) beat Elizabeth Mandlik (Q): 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto beat Petra Kvitova (10): 6-3, 6-4
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (23) beat Viktoriya Tomova: 6-1, 2-6, 6-1
• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova beat Veronika Kudermetova (11): 6-3, 6-1
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (14) beat Tatjana Maria: 6-0, 6-1
• Anna Blinkova beat Ysaline Bonaventure: 6-2, 6-0
• Anna-Lena Friedsam beat Nao Hibino (LL): 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
• Caroline Garcia (5) beat Xiyu Wang: 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4
• Peyton Stearns beat Katerina Siniakova: 7-6 (7), 6-2
• Aliona Bolsova (LL) beat Kristina Kucova: 6-2, 6-1
• Elina Svitolina beat Martina Trevisan (26): 6-2, 6-2
• Yulia Putintseva beat Maryna Zanevska: 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Varvara Gracheva beat Dalma Galfi: 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
• Elina Avanesyan (LL) beat Belinda Bencic (12): 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
• Diana Shnaider beat Rebecca Marino: 6-3, 7-5
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Alycia Parks: 6-4, 6-0
• Sloane Stephens beat Karolina Pliskova (16): 6-0, 6-4
• Camila Osorio (LL) beat Ana Bogdan: 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Madison Keys (20) beat Kaia Kanepi: 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Linda Fruhvirtova: 6-2, 6-2
• Donna Vekic (22) beat Dayana Yastremska (Q): 6-2, 7-5
• Bernarda Pera beat Anett Kontaveit: 7-6 (6), 6-2
• Kayla Day (Q) beat Kristina Mladenovic (WC): 7-5, 6-1
• Daria Kasatkina (9) beat Jule Niemeier: 6-3, 6-4
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Danielle Collins: 6-4, 6-2
• Liudmila Samsonova (15) beat Katie Volynets: 6-0, 6-1
• Irina-Camelia Begu (27) beat Anna Bondar: 6-4, 6-2
• Mayar Sherif beat Madison Brengle: 6-3, 6-1
• Sara Errani beat Jil Teichmann: 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Anastasia Potapova (24) beat Taylor Townsend (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Clara Tauson (Q) beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich: 6-2, 6-0
• Qinwen Zheng (19) beat Tamara Zidansek (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Camila Giorgi beat Alize Cornet: 6-3, 6-4
• Leolia Jeanjean (WC) beat Kimberly Birrell (WC): 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3
• Karolina Muchova beat Maria Sakkari (8): 7-6 (5), 7-5
• Leylah Fernandez beat Magda Linette (21): 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
• Elise Mertens (28) beat Viktoria Hruncakova (LL): 6-1, 6-4
• Kamilla Rakhimova beat Sara Bejlek (Q): 6-0, 6-3
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-3, 6-2
• Iryna Shymanovich (Q) beat Panna Udvardy: 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1
• Magdalena Frech beat Shuai Zhang (29): 6-1, 6-1
• Storm Hunter (Q) beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz: 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Nadia Podoroska beat Jessika Ponchet (WC): 6-0, 6-2