Roland-Garros: Azarenka needs over three hours to reach second round

Former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka, the No 15 seed, moved into the second round of Roland-Garros after defeating Romanian Ana Bogdan 6-7 [7], 7-6 [1], 6-2 in a rain-interrupted clash in Paris on Monday.

Azarenka enjoyed some success on the clay courts of the French Open early on in her career, reaching the semi-finals in Paris in 2013 and the quarter-finals in 2009 and 2011.

But she has reached the fourth round only once (in 2021) in her last six appearances at Roland-Garros.

Bogdan served for the match at 6-5 in the second set but Azarenka broke back and then won the tiebreak easily, before having an easier time in the final set and winning it 6-2.

The match lasted three hours and nine minutes and sets up a second round clash between Azarenka and former top 10 player Andrea Petkovic, who defeated Frace’s Oceane Dodin 6-4, 6-2 earlier on Monday.

Roland-Garros (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 43.600.000)

• Diane Parry beat Barbora Krejcikova (2): 1-6, 6-2, 6-3
• Alison Riske beat Dayana Yastremska: 6-3, 6-3
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Q): 6-2, 6-0
• Daria Saville (WC) beat Valentini Grammatikopoulou: 6-1, 6-2
• Andrea Petkovic beat Oceane Dodin: 6-4, 6-2
• Amanda Anisimova (27) beat Naomi Osaka: 7-5, 6-4
• Bianca Andreescu beat Ysaline Bonaventure: 3-6, 7-5, 6-0
• Petra Kvitova (32) beat Anna Bondar: 7-6 [7], 6-1
• Martina Trevisan beat Harriet Dart: 6-0, 6-2
• Qinwen Zheng beat Maryna Zanevska: 6-3, 6-1

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