PARIS – Top seed Simona Halep reached the second round of the French Open a day later than expected and not without a fright as she recovered from a slow start to beat American Alison Riske 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday.
The Romanian lost the opening five games as she sprinkled unforced errors across Court Philippe Chatrier but there was no sign of panic and her game belatedly clicked into gear.
The 83rd-ranked Riske managed to win only three games in her previous clay court meeting with the twice Roland Garros runner-up but broke serve three times in the opening set.
Halep quickly reasserted her authority though with the depth and power of her groundstrokes stopping Riske in her tracks – conceding just 14 points in sets two and three.
She finished with a flurry of winners as she got back up to speed after the match had originally been canceled on Tuesday due to weather delays.
After having to wait until the fourth day of the tournament to begin her campaign for a first Grand Slam title, Halep will be in action again on Thursday against American wildcard Taylor Townsend.
“I’m ready for tomorrow, I feel strong in my legs,” Halep, runner-up last year, said on court. “She (Riske) played really well in the first set and I knew I just had to start getting some balls in and be more aggressive.”
NADAL RAINED OUT
Earlier tournament favorite Rafael Nadal had to wait until Tuesday to wrap up his unexpectedly tight match against lucky loser Simone Bolelli after Monday night’s play was suspended due to thunderstorms.
Spain’s Nadal, a 10-time French Open champion, had won the first two sets 6-4 and 6-3, but Italy’s Bolelli was up 3-0 on Nadal in the third set before the match was postponed around 8 p.m. at Philippe Chatrier court.
Among the other matches suspended was one between Americans John Isner and Noah Rubin, in which Isner led two sets to none. Three other men’s matches were suspended.
The only affected women’s match was between Maria Sharapova and Richèl Hogenkamp, whose match was rescheduled for Tuesday. (Reuters and Busted Racquet)
