Lucrezia stefanini

The World No: No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka opened her French Open campaign with a smooth 6-1, 6-0 win over Kamilla Rakhimova in exactly an hour to begin Sunday's play on Court Philippe-Chatrier on a proper note.

Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China also made a winning start, defeating former Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in an early match in the women's singles first round.

Sabalenka arrived in Paris as the form player of 2025, seeking her first Roland Garros crown. The reigning US Open champion owns a tour-leading three titles this year, including her third Madrid trophy last month, and her overall record is now 35-6. On Sunday, Sabalenka fired 30 winners, including five aces, across the 13 games of the match -- while keeping her unforced error count down to 17. By contrast, Rakhimova was only able to find nine winners in total.