Iga Swiatek navigated her way into the third round of the French Open on Wednesday with a 6-2, 6-3 success over world number 35 Sara Bejlek.
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The four-time Roland Garros champion is seeking to reclaim the title she won three times consecutively between 2022 and 2024, before losing out at the semifinal stage to top seed Aryna Sabalenka last season.
Swiatek, 24, has recently teamed up with Rafael Nadal's former coach, Francisco Roig, and has been preparing for the clay-court Grand Slam at the Spanish great's tennis academy in Mallorca.
"I spent a week in Mallorca, which is amazing, because starting the clay-court season there gave me a lot of motivation," Swiatek said on court.
After a comfortable opening win in Paris against Australian wildcard Emerson Jones, the Pole faced a tougher challenge in the round of 64 against Abu Dhabi winner Bejlek.
"She has a tricky style of game... she mixes up the rhythm quite well," Swiatek added of her 20-year-old opponent, who she played for the first time.
With a slight blustering wind creeping across centre court, which the sun-drenched spectators doubtless appreciated, both players struggled on serve initially with three consecutive breaks in the early exchanges.
Swiatek then looked to have firmly gained the upper hand from the baseline but Bejlek battled to stay with the former world No 1 and saved a set point to break back to 5-2 – Swiatek finishing that game with back-to-back double faults.
But the diminutive Czech's own service problems came back to bite her as Swiatek broke for the fourth time to claim the opener.
Swiatek held serve to claim a mammoth opening game in the second frame as both women found their range with their groundstrokes.
But Swiatek proved the more powerful of the two as she broke in the next game before moving through the rest of the set to book her last-32 berth, despite dropping serve two times.
Iga's second round highlights dropped ↘️#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/PqG8hFbKiq
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 27, 2026
RYBAKINA DUMBED OUT
Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina suffered a shock early exit at the hands of unseeded Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva.
The Kazakh world number two blew a one-set lead in dramatic fashion at Roland Garros, slumping to a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10/4) loss.
"Honestly, hard to describe, I'm super happy," said world number 55 Starodubtseva after beating a top-10 opponent for the first time in her career.
"I'm super proud of myself that I was able to do this today. It was a tricky third set but I got it done in the end."
It is Rybakina's earliest exit from any WTA tournament since the 2025 Miami Open and first defeat in the opening two rounds of a major since the 2024 Australian Open.
Starodubtseva will face either in-form American 26th seed Hailey Baptiste or China's Wang Xiyu for a place in the last 16.
She has already matched her previous best run at a Grand Slam event, when she lost to Jasmine Paolini in the French Open third round as a lucky loser 12 months ago.
Rybakina started strongly on a sweltering Court Suzanne Lenglen, easing into a 5-1 lead before wrapping up the opening set.
But her game quickly unravelled as an inspired Starodubtseva reeled off the first five games of the second en route to taking the set.
Rybakina was on the ropes as she quickly lost the opening three games of the decider to slip a double-break behind.
She dug deep, though, to get a break back and then stave off two break points to cut the gap to 3-2.
Another Rybakina break followed just as the clock reached the two-hour mark, bringing the third set level at 4-4.
Starodubtseva regrouped just when she looked to be wilting, doggedly holding serve in the 12th game to force a breaker.
The deciding tie-break started with a Rybakina double fault, and Starodubtseva wasted little time in stretching 6-2 in front.
She completed the biggest win of her career on her second match point when Rybakina sent a forehand flying wide.
"You can't be thinking it will be easy, even at 3-0 (in the third set), I was thinking this might still not be easy," said Starodubtseva.
SVITOLINA ADVANCES
Elina Svitolina put in a more assured display in the second round than in her opening match, seeing off Spanish qualifier Kaitlin Quevedo in straight sets.
Svitolina, who beat Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff en route to the Italian Open title earlier this month, defeated world number 126 Kaitlin Quevedo 6-0, 6-4.
"It was a great match, I started very well in the first set," she said.
The Ukrainian seventh seed ended an eight-year wait for her fifth WTA 1000 trophy in Rome to underline her credentials as a contender in Paris.
She struggled through her first-round tie, edging out Hungary's Anna Bondar in a deciding-set tie-break on Monday, before watching her husband Gael Monfils' final French Open match in the night session.
But Svitolina raced out of the blocks this time, quickly taking control against Quevedo.
The Spaniard competed better in the second set until a break in the ninth game helped Svitolina wrap up victory.
That's how you end a match 💪#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/0OQpHjyuAn
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 27, 2026
Svitolina, who reached her fourth career Slam semifinal earlier this year at the Australian Open, will next play Germany's Tamara Korpatsch, who made a major third round for the first time at the age of 31 by beating Chinese 32nd seed Wang Xinyu
BENSIC POWERS THROUGH
Earlier, former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic became the first women's player to reach the third round after the Swiss beat American Caty McNally 6-4 6-0.
Bencic is competing in the French Open after a gap of two years, having missed the 2024 edition after giving birth to her daughter Bella and the 2025 edition with an arm injury.
With her comfortable victory, the 29-year-old reached the third round in Paris for the first time since 2022.
Bencic, who won the Tokyo Olympics gold medal in 2021, was too good for McNally on Court Simonne-Mathieu, advancing in 84 minutes, converting six breaks from seven opportunities.
The 63rd-ranked McNally struggled to find her rhythm on a warm morning in Paris.
Former world No 4 Bencic will take on either American Peyton Stearns or Ukrainian Daria Snigur in the next round.
Bencic, a two-times Grand Slam semifinalist, has never gone beyond the third round of the Paris major.
PAOLINI, OSTAPENKA OUSTED
Argentina's Solana Sierra claimed the biggest win of her career by beating 13th seed and former finalist Jasmine Paolini 3-6 6-4 6-3 to reach the third round.
The 21-year-old will face Romanian 18th seed Sorana Cirstea.
Magda Linette knocked out 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 2-6 6-2 to move into the third round where she will face Swiatek.