PARIS (Reuters) – Second seed Aryna Sabalenka beat Japanese qualifier Moyuka Uchijima 6-2 6-2 under the roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Thursday to move into the French Open third round.
Uchijima, playing in the second round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, could not cope with Sabalenka’s powerful serve and groundstrokes.
Sabalenka won six points in a row at the start of the match but once Uchijima had overcome her nerves she settled down against the Belarusian.
Uchijima held her serve but when she trailed 3-2, Sabalenka pounced on a break point with a fierce winner before taking the first set in 29 minutes.
The Japanese number one wore a sombre expression during the changeover before the second set and she had no answer to the power of Sabalenka who also played some telling drop shots.
Uchijima afforded herself a smile when she got the better of the Belarusian on a long rally to make it 4-2 but Sabalenka refocused to save a break point before breaking the Japanese player’s serve to seal victory.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru;, editing by Ed Osmond)
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