Roland-Garros: Halep fights for comeback win over lucky loser Schunk
It was a shaky match for the Romanian, who is playing her first Grand Slam with new coach Patrick Mouratoglou
Simona Halep, the No 19 seed, moved into the second round of Roland-Garros by defeating German lucky loser Nastasja Schunk 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 on a chilly Tuesday evening in Paris.
Halep, also ranked world No 19, will face Chinese Qinwen Zheng next – and admitted on court afterwards that she would need to play better if she hoped to progress through the tournament.
She fell behind 3-0 in the first set before clawing her way back, and said in her press conference: “I found a way to stay focused and to fight for the set. Second set I was not able to do that. She played really well. I went a little bit down.
“But then in the third set I restarted everything. I just fought for every ball. I restart in my mind. I did what I had to do, and I felt more confident, I felt better. So I found the rhythm. I’m happy with the way I finished the match.”
Schunk, ranked No 165, won against Brazilian Laura Pigossi (7-5, 3-6, 6-3), Paraguayan Veronica Cepede Royg (6-3, 6-1) and American qualifier Hailey Baptiste (7-5, 4-6, 6-2) to reach the main draw.
Paris (Grand Slam): Other first-round results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 43.600.000, most recent results first):
- Chloe Paquet beat Aryna Sabalenka: tuesday
- Panna Udvardy beat Fernanda Contreras Gomez: tuesday
- Daria Kasatkina (20) beat Rebecca Sramkova (LL): 6-2, 6-0
- Madison Brengle beat Mihaela Buzarnescu (LL): 6-1, 6-2
- Tamara Zidansek (24) beat Claire Liu: 6-2, 6-2
- Kaja Juvan beat Oksana Selekhmeteva (Q): 7-5, 7-6 [4]
- Paula Badosa (3) beat Fiona Ferro (WC): 6-2, 6-0
- Camila Giorgi (28) beat Shuai Zhang: 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
- Jessica Pegula (11) beat Qiang Wang: 6-2, 6-4
- Yulia Putintseva beat Irina Bara (Q): 6-3, 6-1
- Anhelina Kalinina beat Hailey Baptiste: 5-2 ab.
- Mayar Sherif beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-3, 7-5
- Shelby Rogers beat Tereza Martincova: 6-4, 6-3
- Madison Keys (22) beat Anna Kalinskaya: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
- Irina-Camelia Begu beat Jasmine Paolini: 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 [5]
- Caroline Garcia beat Taylor Townsend: 6-3, 6-4
- Ekaterina Alexandrova (30) beat Greet Minnen: 7-5, 6-3
- Elena Rybakina (16) beat Arantxa Rus: 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
- Katie Volynets (WC) beat Viktorija Golubic: 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
- Alize Cornet beat Misaki Doi: 6-2, 6-0
- Aleksandra Krunic (Q) beat Kamilla Rakhimova: 6-4, 6-3
- Danielle Collins (9) beat Viktoriya Tomova (LL): 6-0, 6-4
- Karolina Pliskova (8) beat Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (WC): 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
- Jelena Ostapenko (13) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-1, 6-4
- Angelique Kerber (21) beat Magdalena Frech: 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
- Veronika Kudermetova (29) beat Lin Zhu (Q): 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
- Ajla Tomljanovic beat Anett Kontaveit (5): 7-6 [5], 7-5
- Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova beat Kristina Kucova: 4-6, 7-6 [1], 6-2
- Emma Raducanu (12) beat Linda Noskova (Q): 6-7 [4], 7-5, 6-1
- Leolia Jeanjean (WC) beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz: 6-4, 6-3
- Elsa Jacquemot (WC) beat Heather Watson: 6-3, 6-3
- Danka Kovinic beat Liudmila Samsonova (25): 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
- 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 (Q): 6-1, 6-2
- Andrea Petkovic beat Oceane Dodin: 6-4, 6-2
- Victoria Azarenka (15) beat Ana Bogdan: 6-7 [7], 7-6 [1], 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
- Marie Bouzkova beat Anastasia Gasanova (LL): 6-2, 6-1
- Leylah Fernandez (17) beat Kristina Mladenovic: 6-0, 7-5
- Donna Vekic (Q) beat Mirjam Bjorklund (Q): 7-6 [6], 6-2
- Belinda Bencic (14) beat Reka-Luca Jani (LL): 6-1, 6-1
- Cori Coco Gauff (18) beat Rebecca Marino (Q): 7-5, 6-0
- Elise Mertens (31) beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse: 6-3, 6-1
- Maria Sakkari (4) beat Clara Burel: 6-2, 6-3
- Alison Van Uytvanck beat Ann Li: 3-6, 2-3 ab.
- Varvara Gracheva beat Astra Sharma: 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
- Olga Danilovic (Q) beat Dalma Galfi: 3-6, 7-6 [4], 6-2
- Jil Teichmann (23) beat Bernarda Pera: 6-2, 6-1
- Katerina Siniakova beat Petra Martic: 6-4, 7-6 [6]
- Aliaksandra Sasnovich beat Xinyu Wang: 6-4, 6-1
- Kaia Kanepi beat Garbine Muguruza (10): 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Karolina Muchova beat Carole Monnet (WC): 6-3, 6-3
- Maria Camila Osorio Serrano beat Harmony Tan (WC): 6-4, 6-3
- Sloane Stephens beat Jule Niemeier (Q): 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
- Sorana Cirstea (26) beat Tatjana Maria: 6-3, 6-3
- Beatriz Haddad Maia beat Cristina Bucsa (Q): 6-3, 1-6, 6-2
- Magda Linette beat Ons Jabeur (6): 3-6, 7-6 [4], 7-5