Katerina Siniakova made the second round of the French Open for the first time in four tries by beating Victoria Azarenka 7-5 7-5 on Court 18.
The first set went with serve all the way until the final game, as the quality of Azarenka’s and Siniakova’s games was equal and they even won a similar number of points. In the eleventh game, Siniakova again held serve to lead 6-5, thanks to her fast response to Azarenka’s good drop shot, but in the following game Azarenka’s level dropped and the Belarusian made her first double fault to hand Siniakova a set point at 0-40, which the Czech readily converted to win the first set 7-5.
The second set was completely different as Azarenka went up a break three times and each time Siniakova broke back right away, but the end of the set was totally similar to the first set, as players were back on serve at 4-4 and while leading 6-5 Siniakova broke Azarenka without losing a point to win their first career meeting.
Siniakova’s opponent in the second round will be Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova, the world No.67 who upset defending champion Jelena Ostapenko on the first day of the tournament.
