Hail Polish

Birthday girl Iga Swiatek beat friend Kaja Juvan of Slovenia 6-0 7-5 to begin her French Open title defence on Monday. 

Celebrating her 20th birthday, Swiatek got a warm hug before the start of the match from Juvan, who is her friend from junior ranks, but the Pole did not return any favours once they got on the opposite sides of the net at Court Philippe-Chatrier. 

“It’s never easy to play against your best friend,” Swiatek said. “You just try to block this friendship for two hours, just focus on the game. I think I’m doing that pretty well. It’s nice to have that skill.” 

Swiatek did not seem keen to spend too much time on court and came out all guns blazing from the start on a windy day at Roland Garros. 

She dished out a bagel to Juvan, making it three consecutive sets that the Pole had not lost a game after her 6-0 6-0 win over former number one Karolina Pliskova in the final of the WTA 1000 event in Rome. 

Juvan did not manage a single winner in the opening set and was more content in defending and trying to hang in against Swiatek’s powerful and precise shot-making. 

But with nothing to lose the 101st-ranked Juvan went on the offensive in the second set and started finding more winners than her opponent, forcing Swiatek to dig deep. 

After an early trade of breaks Swiatek got the crucial break in the 12th game and converted her fourth match-point in the game when she forced an error off her opponent. 

The friends shared another warm embrace at the net followed by a lengthy discussion and Juvan stayed back on court as Swiatek was handed a bouquet. 

Medvedev advances to round two 

Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev ended his misery at the French Open as he beat Alexander Bublik for his first win on the Roland Garros clay. 

Medvedev, 25, won 6-3 6-3 7-5 against Kazakhstan’s Bublik, ending a run of four successive defeats in round one. 

The two-time Grand Slam finalist broke out into a relieved grin after serving out for victory in under two hours. “I felt I was not playing well in the past here, but this time I feel comfortable,” Medvedev said. 

Medevdev has rarely concealed his dislike for the red dirt, having earned just 11 of his 179 career wins on the surface going into Roland Garros. He had earned only one clay-court victory - against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Madrid - this year.