Elina Svitolina gets early wake-up call at Roland Garros

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina overcame a poor start to beat Ajla Tomljanovic at the French Open.

Australian Tomljanovic had a 5-1 advantage in the opening set, but Svitolina fought back to win 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 29 minutes.

Tomljanovic broke in games three and five to take a handy lead, but the Ukrainian reeled off six consecutive games to secure the opening set and then secured the crucial break in game eight of the second.

Italian Open winner Svitolina will face either 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova in the second round.

“It was not an easy start and I had to really wake up. I had to step up my game,” she said after the match.

The 25th seed Anett Kontaveit from Estonia was also made to battle for her win as she beat American Madison Brengle 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 while Petra Matric from Croatia secured a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Yang Wafan.

Meanwhile, Barbora Strycova came from a set down to beat Kurumi Nara 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 and the Czech will face Ekaterina Makarova after the Russian secured a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Zheng Saisai.

Elina Svitolina French Open Grand Slams WTA Tour

Latest