Romanian No.3 seed Simona Halep defied swirling pressure to gain first-round revenge on Suzanne-Lenglen Court.
No.12 seed Madison Keys of the United States and 2014 semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard of Canada both advanced to the second round at Roland-Garros.
There’s a certain pressure that bubbles away upon earning Grand Slam title favouritism for the first time.
Add to that a race to overcome a nasty ankle roll on the eve of Roland-Garros and you begin to get a sense of what Simona Halep has had on her plate since arriving in Paris last week.
On Tuesday, after a late court switch from Chatrier to Lenglen, Halep prevailed 6-2, 6-3 over the unheralded Slovak, Jana Cepelova,
It’s a result that would appear to have gone some way to silencing those questions.
This, though, was an unlikely Grand Slam revenge mission.
Had the Romanian been a little jittery at the prospect of facing Cepelova in the opening round of a major it would stand to reason. The Slovak had stunned her before at the first hurdle at Wimbledon in 2015.
“Maybe I was a little bit tight. It's like many things happened today, first round, French Open, the leg, I didn't know how it was gonna be,” Halep said. “(I was) a little bit nervous because I changed court, so it's not easy.
“I think I did well. I served pretty well after a few games when I started to roll it a little bit more. So I think I was good today. In the second set, she came back a little bit stronger, and she hit the ball stronger, but I was there.
“I was strong on my legs. And I think I did a great game. It is not easy against her, because I lost at Wimbledon.”
It was a scrappy start as both traded early breaks.
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