Zverev storms into French Open second round as Kostyuk dedicates emotional win to Ukraine

PARIS: Alexander Zverev marched into the second round of the French Open on Sunday with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over France’s Benjamin Bonzi.

On a scorching Court Philippe Chatrier, Zverev needed just over two hours to see off world number 95 Bonzi on the opening day of the clay-court Grand Slam.

Zverev broke in the sixth game of the first set to take control.

The pair exchanged breaks midway through the second frame, before Zverev pounced on his opponent’s serve to get ahead 5-4, immediately sealing the two-set lead with a clean hold.

With the mercury tipping past 30C, Zverev raced through the final frame to book his ticket into the round of 64.

The 29-year-old German second seed will next face Czech Tomas Machac, who earlier beat Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

Marta Kostyuk dedicated her first-round win to her home country of Ukraine, saying her parents’ house was nearly hit by a missile earlier in the day.

The Kyiv native beat Oksana Selekhmeteva, who was born in Russia but obtained Spanish nationality four days ago, 6-2 6-3, to get her campaign in Paris off to a strong start.

“I’m incredibly proud of myself today, I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my life,” 15th seed Kostyuk said on court.

“This morning, 100 metres from my parent’s house, a missile fell. I’m obviously very happy to be in the second round. All my thoughts and all my heart was to the people of Ukraine today. My biggest example are Ukrainian people today,” she added.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kostyuk has not shaken hands with Russian players before or after her matches.

It was a 12th consecutive victory on clay for Madrid Open winner Kostyuk.

In other first round matches on Day 1, Solana Sierra beat Emma Raducanu 6-0 7-6, 8th seed Mirra Andreeva beat Fiona Ferro 6-3 6-3, Magdalena Frech got walked over against Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Francesca Jones beat Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6 7-6 6-2, Tamara Korpatsch beat Sara Sorribes 6-4 6-2, Hailey Baptiste beat Barbora Krejcíková 6-7 7-6 6-2, Magda Linette beat Tereza Valentová 5-7 6-4 7-6, Wang Xiyu beat  Danka Kovinic 6-3 6-1, Yuliia Starodubtseva beat Anna Blinkova 6-3 6-1, Katie Volynets beat Clara Burel 6-3 6-1, 11th seed Belinda Bencic beat Sinja Kraus 6-2 6-3, Marie Bouzková beat Lucia Bronzetti 6-3 6-1.

In men’s section, Joao Fonseca beat Luka Pavlovic 7-6 6-4 6-2, Alexander Blockx beat Coleman Wong 6-3 6-4 6-2, Dino Prižmic beat Michael Zheng 6-1 6-1 6-3, Jakub Menšík beat Titouan Droguet 6-3 6-2 6-4, Tomás Martín Etcheverry beat Nuno Borges 6-3 6-4 6-2, Federico Cinà beat Reilly Opelka 3-6 6-4 6-2 6-7 6-4, Marco Trungelliti beat Kyrian Jacquet 6-4 6-2 6-2, Thiago Agustín Tirante beat Pablo Llamas Ruiz 6-3 7-6 6-7 6-0, Karen Khachanov beat Arthur Gea 6-3 7-6 6-0, Miomir Kecmanovic beat Fábián Marozsán 7-6 6-3 6-4. Agencies

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