Elena Rybakina begins French Open campaign with win

Kazakhstani top-ranked tennis player Elena Rybakina (World No. 2) successfully began her Grand Slam campaign in Paris after a quarterfinal loss in Rome. In the first round, she defeated Slovenian Veronika Erjavec (No. 84) 6-2, 6-2.

This was the first meeting between the two players. Analysts’ expectations that the balance of experience and level was too uneven were fully confirmed. Rybakina made 27 unforced errors and hit only two aces, but it was still enough for her to secure her first victory in the Paris heat.

In the first set, which lasted 35 minutes, the Kazakhstani player secured breaks in the third and seventh games to take it 6-2. In the second set, Rybakina took the lead with two breaks to move ahead 4-0. Erjavec did everything she could to avoid a bagel set but the match ended after 1 hour and 15 minutes on the second match point, 6-2, 6-2.

In the next round, Rybakina will face Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva (No. 55), who defeated Russia’s Anna Blinkova (No. 103) 6-3, 6-1.

The French Open is the second Grand Slam tournament of the year. Traditionally, it concludes the spring clay-court season. The 2026 Roland Garros prize pool amounts to a record €61.7 million, up 9.5% compared with the previous year.