Defending champion Ana Ivanovic sweated to reach the French Open second round yesterday with a grueling 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 win over Italy’s Sara Errani as temperatures hit a sweltering 30ºC.
The cheerful Ivanovic, who skipped the Madrid Open because of a knee injury, had the problem area taped when she walked onto a sun-drenched Philippe Chatrier Court, but it didn’t hinder her in the early exchanges as she edged to a 3-1 advantage.
The 44th-ranked Italian then stormed back to lead 5-4, but once she had squandered an opportunity to serve for the first set in the 10th game, her fight steadily melted away.
PHOTO: EPA
Ivanovic eased through the tie-break and then dominated the second set, stretching out a 5-1 lead on the back of two breaks.
She suffered a slight blip when Errani clawed one break back in the eighth game, but the champion eventually clinched victory with a swooping forehand in the ninth game after more than two hours on court.
China’s Li Na, the 25th seed, earlier had the honor of becoming the first player to reach the second round thanks to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Poland’s Marta Domachowska.
The 26-year-old Li, who missed last year’s tournament because of injury, needed just 72 minutes to make the last 64 where she will face Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky.
Li was quickly joined in the next round by promising Russian 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 27th seed, who eased past Romania’s Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-3, 6-2.
Eighteen-year-old Russian qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko reduced Mathilde Johanssonof France to a tearful wreck after a three hour 2-6, 6-2, 10-8 win.
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