Elena Rybakina successfully navigated a tricky first-round match at the 2023 Roland Garros against Brenda Fruhvirtova.
Fruhvirtova is a talented 16-year-old player from the Czech Republic and she secured her main draw spot at the 2023 Roland Garros through the qualifying. Against the fourth-seeded Rybakina, she wanted to follow up on a win of fellow 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva who bested Alison Riske-Amritraj.
But her opponent was much more difficult. The Kazakh is the reigning Wimbledon champion and also one of the biggest favourites on the Parisian clay, also thanks to her recent triumph at the 2023 Italian Open in Rome.
The two never met before on the WTA Tour and it was the lack of familiarity that the teenager wanted to take advantage of. She was the first player to have break points and even though she didn't use her first in the fifth game, she managed to convert her third break point of the set in the seventh game to lead 4-3.
But Fruhvirtova's lead was short-lived. Rybakina immediately broke back, and after the youngster failed to use two more break points in the next game, the world no. 4 added another break, winning the first set 6-4 and finishing it with a 100% success rate on break points.
But the 16-year-old was determined to keep fighting and she started also the second set well. The Czech broke her opponent's serve once more, this time to lead 2-1.
Little did Fruhvirtova know that her comeback would be stopped already in the third game of the second set as Rybakina won all the remaining games, winning the match 6-4, 6-2 and booking the second-round spot at the 2023 Roland Garros in Paris.
Up next, she will take on another teenager from the Czech Republic, this time 18-year-old Linda Noskova, who is the highest-ranked 18-year-old on the WTA Tour ahead of another Czech talent and Brenda's sister, Linda Fruhvirtova.
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