Sabalenka races to French Open first-round win

French Open 2025

Location: Roland Garros, May 25 – June

Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning world no. 1, dropped just one game to launch her impressive French Open campaign against Kamilla Rakhimova.

Russian Rakhimova defeated Sabalenka 6-1, 6 0 6-0 in Paris, in just one hour.

The Belarusian continued to excel throughout the match, winning nine games straight to seal the victory.

Sabalenka dominated the first day of play on Court Philippe Chatrier by hitting 30 winners, breaking her opponent’s serve five times, and dominating the second day’s play.

Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, has never reached the French Open final, which would be her best effort if she had made it to the semi-finals in 2023.

The 27-year-old is, however, using this evidence to support her claim to be one of the tournament favorites.

In the quarters, she might face Chinese eighth seed Zheng Qinwen, who defeated 2021 runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3 in her opening match, and three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek, who is also in the semis.

After winning against Rakhimova, Sabalenka used a polaroid camera to capture photos of her bags and court, a custom she has continued to do this year.

Marion Bartoli, the former Wimbledon champion, posed the question to Sabalenka about the camera in an on-court interview, saying, “The idea was to take some positive moments in my life. I started in December and I already have a pretty big album.

When I’m sad, I go through the album and remember the positive events that caused me to feel good.

Victoria Mboko, a teenager, made her Grand Slam debut by winning over Lulu Sun, who was 45 at the beginning of the day.

The Canadian-born 18-year-old won 6-1 7-6 (7-4) against New Zealander Sun, who defeated Emma Raducanu at Wimbledon in July of last year. She made it through qualifying without losing a set.

Mboko, who was ranked 333 at the start of the year, is now up to 120 in the world after her 38th victory.

She said, “I didn’t expect the whole thing, to be honest.” “I mean, even playing, even the quallies,” I mean. For the first time ever, I was so excited to play in a Grand Slam.

“It’s a surprise in and of itself,” the entire thing is. I mean, I feel like I can use it and make the most of it right now that I’m here.

Elina Svitolina, the 13th seed in Ukraine, won 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, against Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey, one of the more well-known names.