Second seed Karolina Pliskova ended Mayar Sherif’s fairytale Grand Slam breakthrough to set up a Roland Garros second round clash against former champion Jelena Ostapenko on Tuesday.
Pliskova, a semi-finalist in 2017, squandered eight set points in the opening set as world number 172 Sherif, the first Egyptian woman to play in the main draw at a Slam, took a shock lead.
However, the Czech’s greater experience eventually told as she recovered to progress 6-7 (9/11), 6-2, 6-4.
“I think she was playing very smart today. Of course she had a lot of confidence just winning three matches from quallies,” said Pliskova of her 24-year-old opponent. “She had nothing to lose.”
Latvia’s Ostapenko, the world 43, won her first match at the French Open since sweeping to her shock 2017 title when she fired 46 winners past Madison Brengle of the United States to win 6-2, 6-1….
