PARIS: Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek and second seed Elena Rybakina both eased into the second round with comfortable wins at a sweltering Roland Garros on Monday, as Stan Wawrinka bade an emotional farewell to the tournament. Swiatek, playing at a Grand Slam event for the first time since linking up with Rafael Nadal&#39;s former coach Francisco Roig, made short work of seeing off Australian teenager Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2 in just 60 minutes. The Pole is looking to regain the trophy she won at Roland Garros in three successive years from 2022-24 before losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals 12 months ago. Swiatek will take on Czech Sara Bejlek for a place in the last 32 on Wednesday. The third seed is among the favorites for the title after finding some form by reaching the Italian Open semi-finals earlier this month. &quot;I&#39;m really happy with the way I played. It was a solid match from the beginning to the end. I technically knew how to play,&quot; said Swiatek. Rybakina also wasted little time in swatting aside Slovenian Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-2 on Court Philippe Chatrier. Like Swiatek, the Kazakh was pleased to not spend too much time on court in the 32C heat. &quot;It&#39;s tough conditions but I&#39;m happy things worked, and I&#39;m looking forward to the next match,&quot; she said. Rybakina, who won the Australian Open earlier this year, plays Ukraine&#39;s Yuliia Starodubtseva next. Elina Svitolina survived a scare against Hungary&#39;s Anna Bondar on Court Suzanne Lenglen, fighting back from 3-1 down in a deciding set to win 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10/3). The Ukrainian, who ended an eight-year wait for a fifth WTA 1000 title in Rome earlier this month, has still never lost in the French Open first round in 13 appearances. Former runner-up Jasmine Paolini was a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine. China&#39;s Zheng Qinwen, who won Olympic gold at Roland Garros two years ago, crashed out in the first round for the first time with a 6-4, 6-0 loss to Poland&#39;s Maja Chwalinska. Sixth seed Amanda Anisimova, last year&#39;s Wimbledon and US Open runner-up, beat French wildcard Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-3, 6-1. Wawrinka waves goodbye to Roland Garros Former champion Wawrinka&#39;s final Roland Garros ended in disappointment as the 41-year-old was beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 by Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong. Wawrinka, who beat Novak Djokovic in the 2015 final, is retiring at the end of the season. He enjoyed a fairytale run to the third round of his last Australian Open but could not repeat the feat in the Paris heat, despite being backed by a packed crowd on Court Simonne Mathieu. After the match, Wawrinka was presented with a glass case containing a section of a clay court and two video tributes to his career were displayed on big screens around the stadium &mdash;&nbsp;the latter featuring messages from former champions Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic. &quot;Thanks to all your support, I wanted to go on as long as possible, to 41 years of age, to continue living moments like this,&quot; Wawrinka said. The high temperatures took their toll on two-time runner-up Casper Ruud and Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin, as the Norwegian narrowly avoided a first opening-round defeat at Roland Garros, winning 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 0-6, 6-2. Both players had medical time-outs in the fourth set and they took over 16 minutes to return to court ahead of the fifth, as the rallies slowed to walking pace. Ruud found just enough energy as the decider went on, though, with Safiullin continuing to wilt in the evening sunshine. Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar enjoyed a winning French Open debut with a 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 dismantling of American Aleksandar Kovacevic. Jodar has quickly climbed the rankings this year, winning a clay-court title in Marrakesh, reaching the Barcelona Open semi-finals and then the quarter-finals in both Madrid and Rome. Fifth seed Ben Shelton, who has made at least the quarter-finals at each of the other three Slams, saw off Daniel Merida in straight sets. Thanasi Kokkinakis, playing only his fourth tour-level tournament of the last two seasons after injuries, won an epic five-set battle over four hours and 18 minutes with Frenchman Terence Atmane, who crumbled from 5-2 up in the decider.

Tennis

Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek defeated Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2, while second seed Elena Rybakina swept past Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-2 in sweltering conditions at Roland Garros.

Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina cruise through Roland Garros openers

ROME: Three-time champion Iga Swiatek battled into the third round of the Italian Open on Friday with a 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 win over Caty McNally. Swiatek dropped serve in the opening game at the Foro Italico but rattled off the next six to seize control against the 63rd-ranked American. The Pole seemed on course for a routine victory when she pulled 4-2 in front in the second set, but McNally twice broke Swiatek as the Pole served for the match and then snatched the tie-break. Swiatek again nudged ahead with a break for a 3-1 lead in the decider. McNally clawed herself level at 3-all before Swiatek took the final three games to book her place in the next round, to her visible relief. &quot;It was a tough match, Caty really played great,&quot; said Swiatek. &quot;I had to be patient. For sure, some mistakes happened. It was not an easy match. I&#39;m really happy I was solid at the end and in the important moments. I kept it together.&quot; Swiatek will play US 28th seed Emma Navarro or Italy&#39;s Elisabetta Cocciaretto this weekend for a place in the last 16. The Pole suffered her earliest exit in five appearances in Madrid last month when she retired in third round due to a viral illness. She was knocked out at the same stage in Rome last year as defending champion. Swiatek, a six-time Grand Slam champion, has not won a clay tournament since capturing the last of her four French Open titles in 2024. Alexandra Eala of the Philippines advanced with a straight-sets win over Chinese 31st seed Wang Xinyu. Canadian 10th seed Victoria Mboko withdrew from the event on Friday due to illness. She will be replaced in the draw by Czech lucky loser Nikola Bartunkova. Novak Djokovic is set for his first appearance on clay this season when he plays 20-year-old Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic. The 38-year-old Djokovic has not played since losing in the last 16 at Indian Wells in March. He pulled out of tournaments in Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid while recovering from a shoulder injury.

Poland's Iga Swiatek serves to US Caty McNally during their women's singles match of the WTA Rome Open tennis tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome on May 8, 2026. (AFP)

Iga Swiatek beats Caty McNally to reach the Italian Open third round in Rome after a tough three-set match, recovering from a second-set loss to finish strongly in the decider.

Iga Swiatek battles into Italian Open third round

ROME: World number one&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/aryna-sabalenka-downs-naomi-osaka-to-reach-madrid-open-quarterfinals" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aryna Sabalenka</a>&nbsp;said Tuesday she was ready to boycott the Grand Slam tournaments in order to have a greater share of the prize money. &quot;I feel like the show is on us. Without us there wouldn&#39;t be a tournament and there wouldn&#39;t be that entertainment,&quot; the four-time Grand Slam winner told a press conference at the Italian Open. &quot;I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage. &quot;I think at some point we will boycott. I feel like that&#39;s going to be the only way to fight for our rights. &quot;We girls can easily get together and go for this because some of the things I feel like it&#39;s really unfair to the players. I think at some point it&#39;s going to get to this.&quot; Last year almost all the leading players signed two letters to the four Grand Slam bosses demanding an increase in prize money, payments into a player welfare fund to improve retirement and maternity benefits, as well as involvement in decisions that affected them. The letters set a target of a 22% share in tournament revenue, which would bring the majors in line with the nine combined 1000-level events run by the ATP men&#39;s tour and the women&#39;s WTA tour. However, Poland&#39;s Iga Swiatek, a four-time French Open singles champion, believes boycotting tournaments &quot;is a bit extreme&quot;. &quot;I think the most important thing honestly is to have proper communication and discussions with the governing bodies so we have some space to talk and maybe negotiate,&quot; said Swiatek, who has also won Wimbledon and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-open-finalist-anisimova-beats-noskova-to-win-beijing-title" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">US Open</a>. &quot;Hopefully before Roland Garros there&#39;s going to be an opportunity to have these types of meetings and we&#39;ll see how they go.&quot; On Monday, players said in a statement that an announcement by the French Open last month of a 9.5% prize money rise was not good enough. It said that last year Roland Garros generated &euro;395 million ($463 million), a 14% increase. However, the total purse went up by just 5.4%, reducing player share of revenue to 14.3%. It estimated that this year&#39;s revenues would pass &euro;400 million ($468.1 million), leaving the player cut still below 15%.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka reacts after winning a point to US' Hailey Baptiste during their 2026 WTA Tour Madrid Open tennis tournament singles match at the Caja Magica in Madrid, on April 28, 2026. (AFP)

The Belarusian says players should consider boycotting Grand Slams to demand a larger share of prize money, arguing they deserve higher payments and stronger control over tournament revenue distribution. 

Articles tagged with "Iga Swiatek"

Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina cruise through Roland Garros openers

Iga Swiatek battles into Italian Open third round

Aryna Sabalenka ready to boycott Grand Slams over prize money

Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina cruise through Roland Garros openers