IMAGES from Day 5 of the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Thursday.
IMAGE: Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in action during her second round match against Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova. Photograph: Lisi Niesner/Reuters
Fourth seed Elena Rybakina booked her third round spot with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over rising Czech teenager Linda Noskova on Thursday, confirming her status as one of the front-runners for the title.
The Wimbledon champion, who also reached this year’s Australian Open final, did not take long to pull away with a break in the third game when Noskova, ranked 50th, fired a backhand into the net.
But the 18-year-old, no stranger to the Paris clay after winning the French Open junior title two years, refused to go down without a fight but paid the price for some risky plays and a double fault on her serve at 40-40 and 5-3 down.
IMAGE: Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova reacts. Photograph: Lisi Niesner/Reuters
Rybakina, a member of the new ‘Big three’ along with fellow title contenders, world number one Iga Swiatek and second seed Aryna Sabalenka, struggled with Noskova’s powerful serve and thundering forehand.
It was instead Noskova who carved out two break points at 3-3 but Rybakina, who won the title at Indian Wells and Rome this season while also reaching the final at the Miami Open, saved them both.
She responded in kind at the very next game to break Noskova and go 5-3 up before clinching the match with an ace on her fourth match point.
Ruud stops Zeppieri to roll into third round
IMAGE: Norway’s Casper Ruud celebrates winning his second round match against Italy’s Giulio Zeppieri. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
Last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud turned on the style at the French Open before the fourth seed showed steel to quell Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 and move into the third round.
The Norwegian brought a touch of flair to Court Philippe Chatrier in classy blue pinstriped shorts and barely fluffed his lines early on, forcing an inexperienced Zeppieri into a corner by badgering him from the baseline.
Ruud’s performance on clay this year has ebbed and flowed but the Estoril champion made quick work of the first set under the Parisian sun after being gifted the decisive break when Zeppieri blasted a forehand long.
The world number four raced through the next set to double his advantage as the left-handed Zeppieri sprayed the errors in a nervy display before regaining composure to peg Ruud back.
Ruud’s superb court coverage ensured he broke for a 3-2 lead in the fourth set but Zeppieri struck back to level at 5-5 with a fiery inside-out winner, only to surrender serve immediately and allow Ruud to close out the victory.