Seven Grand Slam singles champions are in action on Monday at Roland Garros, and Elena Rybakina was the first of that septet to pick up an opening-round win.
Roland Garros: Draws | Scores | 411
No. 12 seed Rybakina of Kazakhstan fought her way to a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Argentine qualifier Julia Riera, a former Top 100 player currently ranked No. 202.
“Today was a difficult opponent,” Rybakina told the press. “I had opportunities to maybe finish it in two sets, but she played well. I started to make some unforced errors. We went into the third one. After, it was just a fight. I’m happy that in the end it went my way.”
Rybakina took 1 hour and 45 minutes to hold off Riera and reach the second round in Paris for the sixth straight year. Rybakina’s best Roland Garros showings are quarterfinal runs in 2021 and last year.
Former World No. 3 Rybakina had to grind through a topsy-turvy third set which featured five breaks of serve, but the 2022 Wimbledon champion ultimately captured the final three games of the match to prevail.
Rybakina had seven aces on the day, continuing to serve big of late. She had 16 aces in Saturday’s Internationaux de Strasbourg final, where she snapped a yearlong title drought to hoist the trophy.
“Definitely [Strasbourg] gives some confidence,” Rybakina said. “I was looking to play some more matches in a row. I’m happy that it happened right before French Open. The most important [thing is] that I felt physically after all these matches well. I think it was a good preparation to come here.”
Rybakina has now won five matches in a row. The Kazakh will try to keep her winning streak going when she takes on 17-year-old American wild card Iva Jovic in the second round for the second straight Slam.
No. 129 Jovic is a quickly rising teen and grinded past Mexico’s Renata Zarazua in the first round on Sunday. However, Rybakina easily defeated Jovic 6-0, 6-3 at this year’s Australian Open.
Krejcikova, Ostapenko advance
The 2021 Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic also won her first-round match on Monday. No. 15 seed Krejcikova defeated Germany’s Tatjana Maria 7-6(4), 6-3.
The 1-hour and 39-minute win over World No. 79 Maria was Krejcikova’s first victory of 2025. Krejcikova missed most of this year due to injuries and just came back to tour last week in Strasbourg.Â
Krejcikova will next face Veronika Kudermetova in the second round. Kudermetova leads their head-to-head 3-2, but Krejcikova won their last meeting — a 3-hour and 14-minute blockbuster in the first round of Wimbledon last year.
After surviving that notable clash, Krejcikova went on to win her second Grand Slam singles title at that event.
The 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko followed Krejcikova into the second round. No. 21 seed Ostapenko of Latvia got past Polina Kudermetova (Veronika’s younger sister) 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 in 1 hour and 54 minutes.
Since taking the title here eight years ago, Ostapenko has yet to advance beyond the third round at Roland Garros. However, she finally won her second clay-court title earlier this year at Stuttgart, beating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
