Iga Swiatek started her French Open title defence with a straight-sets win over her good friend Kaja Juvan in the first round on her 20th birthday on Monday. The Pole, who powered to a surprise triumph last year at Roland Garros, won 6-0, 7-5 against her Slovenian opponent.
"You never know what`s going to happen and I`ve never been a defending champion, even in the smallest tournaments, so I didn`t know what to expect," said Swiatek, who was presented with flowers on court after the match for her birthday. Swiatek will face either Sweden`s Rebecca Peterson or American Shelby Rogers in the second round.
The first set was the eighth seed`s third straight bagel after thumping Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the Italian Open final earlier this month, which saw her break into the world`s top 10. Juvan put up much more of a fight in the second set, though, battling back from 3-1 down before missing two break points in the 11th game.
But her resistance ended shortly afterwards, as Swiatek came back from 40-0 down in the next game and secured victory on her fourth match point in the sunshine on Court Philippe Chatrier. "In the second set it was really hard, she didn`t give me any birthday gifts," added Swiatek. "So I`m really happy I could win those important points."
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