Clinical Muguruza joins Halep in third round

PARIS • With three of the top seven seeds out of the women's draw in the first round at the French Open, there was no guarantee Garbine Muguruza would stroll into the third round at Roland Garrosyesterday.

The Spanish fourth seed, however, barely broke sweat as she swept aside French wildcard Myrtille Georges 6-2 6-0 on a sun-bathed Court Philippe Chatrier.

On Monday, third seed Angelique Kerber, fifth seed Victoria Azarenka and seventh seed Roberta Vinci were knocked out in the first round.

"When you look at the recent tournaments, things have been very erratic and unpredictable. The players have had some tough matches," Muguruza told reporters.

"I don't think it's like the men where when you play (Novak) Djokovic you know you're going to lose. It's not the same thing in women's singles at all."

  • SELECTED RESULTS

  • Men's singles 2nd rd Stan Wawrinka (Sui) bt Taro Daniel (Jpn) 1-6 6-3 6-4, Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus) 6-3 6-3 6-3, Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Jordan Thompson (Aus) 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (4-7) 12-10, Nick Kyrgios (Aus) bt Igor Sijsling (Ned) 6-3 6-2 6-1, Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt Ivan Dodig (Cro) 6-2 6-1 6-3, Alexander Zverev (Ger) bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) 5-7 6-2 7-6 (8-6) 7-5, Jack Sock (USA) bt Dustin Brown (Ger) 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-2, Albert Ramos (Esp) bt Marco Trungelliti (Arg) 6-3 6-4 7-5, Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt Dusan Lajovic (Srb) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-0 (ret), Jeremy Chardy (Fra) bt Adam Pavlasek (Cze) 6-4 6-2 6-4, John Isner (USA) bt Kyle Edmund (Gbr) 6-4 6-4 6-4, Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) bt Benoit Paire (Fra) 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-2 Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) 6-1 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 .

    Women's singles 2nd rd Simona Halep (Rou) bt Zarina Diyas (Kaz) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2, Garbine Muguruza (Esp) bt Myrtille Georges (Fra) 6-2 6-0, Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Hsieh Su-wei (Tpe) 6-4 6-1, 21-Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Zhang Shuai (China) 6-3 6-4 Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 2-6 6-2 6-2, Lucie Safarova (Cze) beat Viktorija Golubic (Sui) 6-2 6-2, Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Esp) bt Myrtille Georges (Fra) 6-2 6-0, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) bt Cagla Buyukakcay (Tur) 6-3 4-6 6-1, Shelby Rogers (USA) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-4 6-2.

Muguruza, who reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in the past two years, will next face Belgium's unseeded Yanina Wickmayer.

"I think the first rounds are the toughest ones. You have to be very motivated. You really have to play at your very best and give what you have, the best in store," she said.

And she gave some of her best tennis against Georges. The Venezuela-born player broke in the sixth game and wrapped up the opening set by winning the last 12 points.

She showed no sign of weakness in the second set, allowing her opponent just five points.

Former finalist Simona Halep had to survive a first-set wobble to reach the third round at Roland Garros for only the second time in her career with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win over Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas.

The Romanian sixth seed surrendered her serve twice in the opening four games to trail 4-1 but used her wealth of experience to finally subdue her 90th-ranked opponent in the tiebreak.

More exchanges of breaks followed in the second set before Halep finally found her groove.

"It was very tough in the first set having to come back from 1-4 down," said Halep. "But I found a better rhythm in the second set, tried to open the court and hit drive volleys."

She will next face Japan's Naomi Osaka, the world No. 101 who has reached the third round at a Major for the second successive time, having also enjoyed a run to the last 32 in Australia.

The 18-year-old knocked out Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-3, which would have been a relief to Halep, who lost to the Croatian at the French Open last year and US Open in 2014.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 26, 2016, with the headline Clinical Muguruza joins Halep in third round. Subscribe