No.4 seed, Maria Sakkari, booked a spot in the second round of Roland Garros for the fifth consecutive year on Sunday after a straight-sets win over home hopeful Clara Burel.
The Greek defeated Burel 6-2, 6-3 in their first-round match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Sakkari fired 24 winners, nearly double the Frenchwoman’s 13. Sakkari broke Burel five times to capture victory in 1 hour and 28 minutes.
The victory marks Sakkari’s 20th match-win of the season so far. Sakkari made her first WTA 1000 final earlier this year at Indian Wells, peaking at a career-high ranking of No.3 following that event. The Greek was also a French Open semi-finalist last year.
“I think it’s always tough to play first round in a Grand Slam, especially against a local [player],” Sakkari said after the match.
“But I think I handled the stress of the first round extremely well. My tennis maybe was not 10 out of 10, but overall I think I did a great job.”
Former Top 20 player, Karolina Muchova, awaits Sakkari in the second round.
Source: WTA.
