Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the second round of the women’s singles at the French Open at Roland Garros yesterday, while controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios overcame a code violation to advance in the men’s singles as the second Grand Slam of the year got off to a damp, chilly start.
Kaohsiung-born world No. 83 Hsieh hit 36 winners, including a backhand winner on match point, on her way to a 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 victory over Spanish world No. 78 Lara Arruabarrena on Court 14.
The Taiwanese saved just one of five break points, but she converted six of 13, winning more than 64 percent of points on her first serve and 72 of the 131 points contested to set up a second-round clash with two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
Photo: EPA
Czech 10th seed Kvitova survived a scare to beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Kvitova was two points away from defeat when she trailed the world No. 57 at 4-5 in the decider, but she claimed the next three games.
Kvitova, a semi-finalist in Paris in 2012, committed 10 double faults in a typically roller-coaster display against an opponent who made the Istanbul final on clay this season.
Russian 24th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was the first player into the second round thanks to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Spanish qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo.
In the men’s singles, Kyrgios overcame a first-set code violation to defeat Italy’s Marco Cecchinato 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
The 17th seed picked up the warning for screaming at a ball boy on a shivering Court One where the temperature refused to budge above 15?C.
Kyrgios insisted he only screamed at the youngster during the first-set tiebreak because he wanted his towel and needed to make his voice heard.
He then accused umpire Carlos Ramos of “unbelievable bias” for dishing out the violation.
However, Kyrgios recovered his composure to see off world No. 124 Cecchinato and set up a second-round clash against Dutch lucky loser Igor Sisjling.
The 21-year-old Australian fired 16 aces and 50 winners on his way to victory as he attempts to go beyond his best performance in Paris — a third-round exit to Andy Murray 12 months ago.
This year’s Roland Garros is being played with security ramped up in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Paris in November last year.
Storylines of Novak Djokovic, celebrating his 29th birthday yesterday, chasing an elusive first title or Serena Williams looking to equal Steffi Graf’s modern-day record of 22 Grand Slam singles victories were on hold.
The first challenge for the organizers was to keep the daily crowds of 30,000 fans safe and sound, a task which was fairly straightforward until last year when another of the city’s showpiece sports venues, the Stade de France, was targeted by suicide bombers.
“Security is at the heart of our priorities and it will be reinforced,” tournament director Guy Forget said. “There will be a double security perimeter with only three entry points. We cannot afford to take the slightest risk.”
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