Philadelphia Freedoms star Sloane Stephens once again dominated at Roland Garros, dispatching Magdalena Frech 6-2, 6-2 to reach the third round on Wednesday.
Like in her first match, Stephens was confident with the ball on her racquet, never facing a break point. She won 11 of 13 points on her second serve and was effective coming forward with a 71 percent success rate. The American set up a clash with the hard-hitting Camila Giorgi after finishing off Frech in 62 minutes.
Naomi Osaka (Washington Kastles) will face off against Madison Keys in an intriguing third-round meeting after advancing past Zarina Diyas 6-4, 7-5. Osaka is aiming to equal her best major showing versus Keys, having progressed to the fourth round at this year‘s Australian Open.
On the doubles court, a number of #WTTFamily members walked away victorious on Day 4.
Venus Williams teamed up with sister Serena to rally past 14th seeds Shuko Aoyama and Miyu Kato 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. The Williams sisters are holders of a Career Team Grand Slam and 14 major trophies together, with two coming in Paris (1999 and 2010). This marks their first Grand Slam appearance together since the tandem triumphed at Wimbledon in 2016.
Kastles teammate Nicole Melichar and fellow American Taylor Townsend (Freedoms) also won their doubles openers. Melichar and Kveta Peschke squeaked past Christina McHale and Shuai Peng 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(3), while Townsend and Renata Voracova rolled over Sara Cakarevic and Jessika Ponchet 6-4, 6-1. Tatjana Maria (New York Empire) and Heather Watson defeated Manon Arcangioli and Sherazad Reix 6-3, 6-4 to move into the second round.
In men‘s doubles action, former Olympic bronze medalists Jack Sock (Springfield Lasers) and Steve Johnson took down Nicholas Monroe and John-Patrick Smith 7-6(6), 6-4. Orange County Breakers‘ teammates Marcelo Demoliner and Stephane Robert each prevailed in a decisive tiebreaker with their respective partners. Demoliner and Santiago Gonzalez edged Roman Jebavy and Andre Vasilevski 7-6(5), 6-7(10), 7-6(2) and Robert joined forces with Calvin Hemerey to eliminate Donald Young 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(6).
