PARIS \u2014 Aryna Sabalenka’s diamonds sparkled in the sun during a first-round victory at the heat-soaked French Open on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The top-ranked Sabalenka looked light on her feet on Court Philippe-Chatrier, despite wearing two thick necklaces in a 6-4, 6-2 win against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiamonds, I don\u2019t really feel the heaviness, but I can imagine how it looks from the outside,\u201d said Sabalenka, the tournament runner-up last year to Coco Gauff. \u201cSo I feel pretty comfortable. For me, it\u2019s important to look good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The four-time major winner was initially going to wear three necklaces but said she thought that might be too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably sounds a bit crazy, but when I feel good about what I\u2019m wearing, how I look on court, I tend to perform much better,\u201d Sabalenka said. “I like to bring a little bit of a fashion on the tennis court. I know the dress that I will wear on the Grand Slam, and I just try to come up with something to match the outfit.”<\/p>\n
Sabalenka said she wasn’t worried about protecting her jewelry when she’s off the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have my fianc\u00e9. He\u2019s kind of like my security,\u201d she said, smiling. \u201cMy physio does jujitsu, so I feel pretty secure walking around. If I go somewhere, I don\u2019t go alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gauff began her title defence with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over fellow American Taylor Townsend, while four-time major winner Naomi Osaka beat Laura Siegemund 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Court Suzanne-Lenglen wearing a sequined gold playing dress.<\/p>\n
Frenchwoman Lois Boisson, who made a surprise run to the semifinals last year when she was ranked 361st, lost 6-2, 6-2 to the 22nd-seeded Anna Kalinskaya.<\/p>\n
For a third consecutive day, the temperature in Paris rose far above normal, reaching a scorching 35 C.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m from Florida, so this is nothing. Shout-out Delray Beach,\u201d said Gauff, who kept her spare rackets in a court-side cooler during the match.<\/p>\n
Medvedev loses early again<\/p>\n
The unusually hot conditions made the courts faster than usual.<\/p>\n
Daniil Medvedev usually thrives in such conditions but he struggled in a five-set loss to 97th-ranked Australian opponent Adam Walton.<\/p>\n
Walton, who received a wild card invitation from tournament organizers, beat Medvedev 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. It was Medvedev’s second straight first round exit here and third in four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know why I don\u2019t really play my best in Roland Garros, but if I say it, it\u2019s (making) excuses,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I keep it to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing in the night session, top-ranked Jannik Sinner routed 171st-ranked French wild card entry Clement Tabur 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to extend his winning streak to 30 matches as he chases the only big title missing in his tennis career.<\/p>\n
Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2021 runner-up to Novak Djokovic, was leading 6-2, 3-0 against Alexandre Muller when his French opponent retired. Muller injured his right calf, three months after injuring his left calf.<\/p>\n
Ninth-seeded Alexander Bublik was beaten 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-5 by Jan-Lennard Struff.<\/p>\n
Alexander Blockx withdrew from the tournament with a right ankle sprain, making Alex de Minaur \u2014 his scheduled second round opponent \u2014 the first player into the third round.<\/p>\n
French teenager Mo\u00efse Kouam\u00e9 made the perfect start to his French Open career with a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-1 win over Marin Cilic.<\/p>\n
The 17-year-old Kouam\u00e9 won one day after 39-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils made his last appearance at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n
The teenager raised his arms in triumph after defeating the 37-year-old Cilic, who won the 2014 U.S. Open, finished runner-up at two other majors, and reached the French Open semifinals in 2022.<\/p>\n
The ATP Tour said No. 318-ranked Kouam\u00e9 became the first man born in 2008 or later to win a Grand Slam match.<\/p>\n
In March, he became the youngest winner in Miami Masters history when he beat Zachary Svajda in the first round \u2014 earning a congratulatory message from Djokovic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014 Aryna Sabalenka’s diamonds sparkled in the sun during a first-round victory at the heat-soaked French Open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-696753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}