The most recently minted grand slam champion in tennis has booked a second-round French Open slot as Caroline Wozniacki overcame a stuttering start to beat Danielle Collins 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 in Paris.
The Dane, who landed her first major at the Australian Open earlier this year in what was her 43rd grand slam attempt, generally prefers faster surfaces, but looked increasingly at ease once she had ironed out some early glitches.
Collins, coming into this tournament on a career-high ranking of 42, fought throughout but was unable to hold off Wozniacki who won on a bizarre point after the umpire ruled a Collins shot had been long while the American, her back turned, was preparing to play on.
Seeded second at Roland Garros, Wozniacki is one of six players who could end the tournament as world No.1 and said having broken her grand slam duck helped her take a “much more relaxed approach” to her match.
Earlier, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic flirted with an early exit but recovered to defeat Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg.
Kvitova will be joined in the second round by compatriot Katerina Siniakova, who beat former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka 7-5 7-5 for a first French Open main draw win.
Azarenka remains frustrated by a lack of match fitness as a legal battle for custody of her young son takes its toll.
“Even though I am doing good things in practice, I’m not able to transfer it to the match,” Azarenka told a post-match news conference.
“I’m pretty happy with the serve today. I just didn’t use the opportunities I created with the serve. The first shot was not aggressive and giving me that feeling of going forward.”
Japanese 21st seed Naomi Osaka is also through with a 6-2 7-5 triumph over American Sofia Kenin, Spain’s Carla Suarez-Navarro cruised to a 6-0 6-1 victory over Croatian Ana Konjuh and Maria Sakkari of Greece booked her place with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win over Mandy Minella of Luxembourg.
American 13th seed Madison Keys was too good for compatriot Sachia Vickery, winning 6-3 6-3.
Anastasija Sevastova and Kristina Mladenovic – seeded 20 and 29 – lost to Mariana Duque and Andrea Petkovic while there were also wins for Kirsten Flipkens, Daria Kasatkina and CoCo Vandeweghe.
