Samantha Stosur blasted her way into the French Open second round with a 6-0 6-2 demolition of Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm on Tuesday.
The Australian ninth seed needed little more than an hour to power to victory against her 42-year-old opponent to ensure a superb start at Roland Garros, her favourite grand slam.
Stosur will face either American Lauren Davis or France’s Kristina Mladenovic in the second round on Thursday.
The match started more than two hours late after persistent rain delayed the start of play on day three of the claycourt grand slam.
With light rain still falling after the covers came off, Stosur clearly wanted to minimise her time on court and she showed Date-Krumm no mercy from the outset.
The Japanese had no answer for Stosur’s power and aggression and the first set was over in just 21 minutes.
Date-Krumm, who had not played a match on clay at the top level since last year’s French Open, offered more fight in the second set.
But Stosur sealed a dominant win when she broke Date-Krumm to love in the final game.
Stosur, a runner-up and two-time semi-finalist at Roland Garros, is targeting a return to form in Paris after a frustrating year marred by injury and form concerns.
She’s optimistic about going deep into the tournament again, though she’ll need to negotiate a tricky quarter of the draw featuring defending champion Maria Sharapova and fellow top ten player Petra Kvitova.