Halep survives risky start to move past Riske into Roland Garros second round

WTA No 1 Simona Halep survived a slow start in her first round match against the World No 83 American Alison Riske, to finish 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 and move to the second round of Roland Garros.

The Romanian lost a lot of ground in front of her much lower ranked opponent, with the scoreboard showing 0-5 before mounting a comeback that saw her safely cross the finish line. She did lose the first set 6-2, but after leaving the court for a break and changing her racquet, she seemed unstoppable and the score clearly reflects that. The Romanian player concluded the match without allowing Riske the chance to make a comeback of her own and sealed each set with 6-1.

Halep closed the match with 20 winners to 28 unforced errors, while Riske hit just four winners after the first set for a total of 17, and totalled 33 unforced errors overall.