Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka both comfortably won their first-round matches on Sunday at the French Open, while Venus Williams slumped to opening defeat.
Arriving to Paris on the wings of her Rome title, top seed Simona Halep extended her winning streak to 15 matches by beating Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4 6-0. On her 29th birthday, the 2018 Roland Garros champion Halep quickly found herself 4-2 down, but once she found her range and variations, it turned into a breezy victory.
Halep’s second-round opponent will be fellow Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, who advanced with a 6-4 4-6 6-3 win over Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann.