Rafael Nadal starts Roland Garros strong.. and Ashleigh Barty suffers
Spanish third seed Rafael Nadal started his journey towards his fifth consecutive title at Roland Garros and his 14th in the French Open, with an easy victory over Australian Alex Popperin, while Australian women's first seed Ashleigh Barty struggled to emerge as a winner in her first match in the French capital since her crowning the title. 2019 year.
Nadal, who prepared in the best way for this beloved tournament by winning the Barcelona and Rome tournaments, the thousand points of the Masters, which are also held on clay, did not find much difficulty in achieving his 101st victory at Roland Garros, compared to only two defeats, by defeating Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3 6-2 A 7-6 (7-3).
Nadal, who is seeking to hold the record for the number of major titles he currently shares with his Swiss rival Roger Federer (20 each), will meet in the next round, French Richard Gasquet, who lost all his previous 16 matches against the Spaniard.
The Russian Andrei Rublev, the seventh, was the most prominent victim of the third day of the French championship, as the player who eliminated Nadal from the Monte Carlo Masters tournament before losing the final to Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, in the first round at the hands of German Jan-Lennard Struff, lost to him 3-6, 6 - 7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-3, 4-6.
As for the women, the world number one Barty suffered in her first appearance at Roland Garros since winning the title in 2019, by defeating American Bernarda Pera 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round as well.
Tunisian Anas Jaber, ranked 26 in the world, reached the second round as well, beating Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-2.
AFP
