Olympic champion Zheng reaches French Open second round

PARIS: China’s Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen beat former French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3 in a tricky first-round assignment on Sunday.

The eighth seed is returning to Paris for the first time since winning gold at last year’s Olympics.

She will play Alexandra Eala of the Philippines or Colombia’s Emiliana Arango in the second round.

Additionally, Roland Garros will pay tribute to its greatest champion with a ceremony for the retired Rafael Nadal on Sunday, while Aryna Sabalenka got her French Open campaign up and running with an emphatic victory.

Nadal, the record 14-time champion on the Paris clay, retired from tennis last November after an illustrious career.

Osaka ‘enjoying’ battle to get back to top

He returns to Court Philippe Chatrier a year after suffering a first-round exit at the hands of Alexander Zverev in what proved to be his final French Open.

The Spaniard finished with a remarkable 112-4 win-loss record at Roland Garros, dominating the tournament since winning the title on his debut in 2005.

Nadal hung up his racquet following the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, initially denying him an opportunity to wave goodbye to his adoring fans in Paris.

is tally of 14 victories at a single Grand Slam appears unlikely to be beaten, with Margaret Court’s 11 Australian Open titles second on the all-time list.