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Karolina Pliskova French Open

Karolina Pliskova beats Donna Vekic to reach French Open second round


No. 9 seed Karolina Pliskova defeated Donna Vekic in two tight sets to reach the second round of the 2021 French Open.

The Czech won 7-5, 6-4 against the world No. 36 in the first round at Roland Garros.

The pair exchanged breaks in the opening two games of the match, before Pliskova saved a break point in the fourth and sixth games.

The 29-year-old then broke the Croatian in a lengthy 11th game to go 6-5 ahead, before serving the set out convincingly.

Both players saved break points in the second set, before Pliskova broke Vekic to love to take a 5-4 lead.

The world No. 10 then served out the match to come through a challenging opening contest.

She hit eight aces to seven double faults, and won 85% of points behind her first serve and 45% on second serve.

The Czech hit 26 winners to 27 unforced errors, and won a total of 43% of the return points she played.

It was Pliskova’s first match since being crushed 6-0, 6-0 by Iga Swiatek in the Italian Open final just over two weeks ago.

She will face either Carla Suarez Navarro or Sloane Stephens in the second round in Paris.