Paris, (Samajweekly) Russian world No.37 Daria Kasatkina upset Swiss world No.11 Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of the French Open here on Wednesday.
Daria will meet Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, who overcame world No. 97 Martina Trevisan of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
World No. 16 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus secured a spot in the third round of the French Open for the first time since 2015, with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Clara Tauson, a fast-emerging teenager from Denmark.
Former world No.1 Victoria, whose best showing here was a semi-final finish in 2013, added to her first-round victory over former French Open champion, Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Victoria, 31, will face world No. 24 Madison Keys in the third round. Madison defeated Leylah Fernandez of Canada, 6-1, 7-5.
Australian world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty survived a scare before overcoming 70th ranked Bernarda Pera of the USA 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round and extending her winning streak at French Open to eight.
Czech Republic’s former world No. 2, Petra Kvitova, gave a walkover to Russia’s Elena Vesnina before the second-round match due to an ankle injury while Ekaterina Alexandrova, the world No. 32 from Russia, got the better of seven-time Grand Slam title winner and former finalist, Venus Williams, 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round.
Venus, the 2002 finalist, was competing in her 24th French Open.
Ekaterina converted six of her seven break points to set up a second-round clash with world No. 33 from the Czech Republic, Barbora Krejcikova.
Barbora, who won her maiden career WTA singles title in Strasbourg last week, defeated compatriot Kristyna Pliskova, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Ashleigh, winner of the title here in 2019, had skipped the 2020 edition held in October due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ashleigh seemed to have completely recovered from the arm injury she suffered during her quarter-final against American teenager Coco Gauff at the Italian Open in Rome a fortnight ago, where she was forced to retire.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra withdrew prior to her second-round match due to injury. The 11th-seeded Czech, who had entered the semi-finals here last year, posted on social media that she had injured her ankle after a fall during her first-round victory on Sunday.
