Paris: Samantha Stosur had to wait for around two-and-a-half hours for her opening match at Roland Garros but she won it quite convincingly by beating Kimki Date-Krumm in the straight sets here on Tuesday.
The Australian swept the first nine games and drubbed 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-0, 6-2. Playing in the Court 1, Stosur dominated with her strong serve and pin down groundstrokes, repeatedly skipping shots that were just inside the lines.
This year has not been the ideal one for her as she had suffered from right-calf injury and she is yet to make the semi-final. But the Stosur's best showing at Roland Garros was in 2010 where she ended up as runner-up. She lost in the final to Francesca Schiavone but she won the U.S. Open in 2011.
Meanwhile, Gael Monfils, a wild card entry, in this year’s French Open did one of the biggest upsets of the tournament on Monday as he defeated the fifth seeded Tomas Berdych in the first round of the French Open 7-6 (8), 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5.
Gael Monfils was making a comeback from a right knee injury and did very well to hit 26 aces and was broken just once. It took four hours to decide the fate of this match but it ended when Berdych hit a backhand long. Monfils then pounded his chest with his fist as the crowd roared one last time.
Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010, has lost in the first round at a major event 10 times.