Muguruza, Pliskova progrees at French Open

Returning to the stage of her greatest triumph inspired defending champion Garbine Muguruza to down 2010 winner Francesca Schiavone in the first round of the French Open on Monday.

Fourth-seed Muguruza, who had been woefully out of form in the run-up to Roland Garros, never looked in danger and outclassed her Italian opponent 6-2 6-4 in muggy conditions.

There were several top-notch rallies and Schiavone pulled a few tricks from her bag, threatening in the second set. However, she made too many unforced errors to sustain any form of challenge.

Muguruza next faces Anett Kontaveit – who accounted for Romanian Monica Niculescu 7-5 6-1.

Estonian Kontaveit is one of the in-form players on clay this season and beat the Spaniard in the second round in Stuttgart.

“It’s a tough draw. It’s going to be a tough game. She’s enjoying a very good season on clay. She has an aggressive game too,” Muguruza said.

Second-seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic beat China’s Saisai Zheng 7-5 6-2, needing just 80 minutes to progress.

Home favourite Kristina Mladenovic, the 13th seed, overcame a back problem and a tough challenge by American Jennifer Brady, but hung on for a 3-6 6-3 9-7 victory.

Other seeded players to progress were Elena Vesnina (14th), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (16th), Yulia Putintseva (27th), Ana Konjuh (29th) and Zhang Shuai (32nd).

Seeded players to fall were American 19th-seed CoCo Vandeweghe to Magdalena Rybarikova and her countrywoman Lauren Davis (25th) to Carina Witthoeft.

Former French Open finalist Sara Errani has seen off Misaki Soi 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 but former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic lost to 105th-ranked Richel Hogenkamp 6-2 7-5, while Lucy Safarova’s poor run of form continued with a loss to Veronica Cepede Royg.

First-round winners included Tunisian Ons Jabeur, Kirsten Flipkens, Magda Linette, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Catherine Bellis, Johanna Larsson, Mariana Duque, Pauline Parmentier, Francoise Abanda and Varvara Lepchenko.

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