Roland-Garros: Rybakina into third round for fourth year running
The Kazakh will play the winner of the match between Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 25 seed, and Croat Petra Martic in the next round
Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 4 seed, beat Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 6-3, 6-4 to move into the third round of Roland-Garros in Paris on Thursday.
The former Wimbledon champion came from 4-2 down in the second set to beat the left-handed Rus by winning the final four games of the match.
This is the fourth year in a row that the Kazakh has made the third round in Paris, her best being a quarter-final appearance in 2021.
The win improved Rybakina’s record to 32-5 in 2024, including three titles on the tour. Ranked No 4, she will play the winner of the match between Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 25 seed, and Croat Petra Martic next.
Ahead of her victory, the Kazakh won against Belgian Greet Minnen (6-2, 6-3).
Rus, ranked No 50, won against German Angelique Kerber (6-4, 6-3) in the previous round.
Paris (Grand Slam), other second-round matches (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53,478,000):
- Victoria Azarenka vs. Mirra Andreeva
- Hailey Baptiste vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Anna Kalinskaya vs. Bianca Andreescu
- Madison Keys vs. Mayar Sherif
- Peyton Stearns vs. Daria Kasatkina
- Varvara Gracheva vs. Bernarda Pera
- Ana Bogdan vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
- Irina-Camelia Begu vs. Linda Noskova
- Elina Avanesyan vs. Anna Blinkova
- Qinwen Zheng vs. Tamara Korpatsch
- Sara Errani vs. Emma Navarro
- Elise Mertens vs. Petra Martic
- Leylah Fernandez vs. Xiyu Wang
- Jelena Ostapenko vs. Clara Tauson
- Cristina Bucsa vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
- Liudmila Samsonova vs. Amanda Anisimova
- Katie Volynets vs. Marketa Vondrousova
- Jana Fett vs. Marie Bouzkova
- Elina Svitolina vs. Diane Parry: thursday
- Danielle Collins vs. Olga Danilovic: thursday
- Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Moyuka Uchijima (Q): 6-2, 6-2
- Paula Badosa vs. Yulia Putintseva: thursday
- Dayana Yastremska (30) beat Yafan Wang: 6-2, 6-0
- Katerina Siniakova vs. Chloe Paquet: thursday
- Donna Vekic beat Marta Kostyuk (18): 7-5, 6-4
- Xinyu Wang vs. Viktoriya Tomova: thursday
- Anastasia Potapova beat Viktorija Golubic: 6-2, 6-2
- Coco Gauff (3) beat Tamara Zidansek (Q): 6-3, 6-4
- Iga Swiatek (1) beat Naomi Osaka: 7-6 (1), 1-6, 7-5
- Ons Jabeur (8) beat Camila Osorio: 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
- Sofia Kenin beat Caroline Garcia (21): 6-3, 6-3