Serena Williams had to up her game to overcome a slow start earlier at the 1st round match at French Open at Roland Garros as she beat Kristie Ahn 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 in straight set, she is playing her first match on clay this year and it sure took some time for her to get into her groove, She struggled through her serves in the early exchanges in the 1st set allowing 28 unforced errors in the process, but still somehow managed to take the set 7-6.
Serena who has won the French Open grand Slam title on three occasions came by flying in the 2 set and soon she found her groove and she was soon dictating the rallies and it only took her less than half of an hour to turn the tide in her favour as she dispersed her fellow American Kristie 7-2 in the second set.
The 3rd and final test was more of a routine, she won the match a little over an hour, she killed the 3rd set 6-0. Recall, she met Kristie Ahn at the same stage at the US Open and it was a similar result.
The result means the 39-year-old Serena would now face a familiar opponent, the Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the next round which is the second round, Pironkova breezed past Andrea Petkovic 6-3 6-3. in their open 1st round match to set up this meeting with Serena, both players met earlier in the year just few weeks ago at the Us Open which Serena prevailed in 3 straight sets.
In other earlier decided 1st round match ups at the French Open, 7th seeded player Petra Kvitova, secured passage into the next round, she beats Oceane Dodin 6-3 7-5 in a very straight forward dominant performance. Kvitova’s next opponent is the Italian player Jasmine Paolini.
Paolini earned the 2nd round match up with Kvitova after she dumped out Aliona Bolsova 6-4 6-3 in their first round opening match.
