Sabalenka starts in style on Chatrier

Scroll down to find out more about Sabalenka’s first-round win over Kamilla Rakhimova. 

Story of the match 

Sabalenka has reached at least the quarter-finals in each of her last nine Grand Slam appearances, but simply getting deep in the draw is no longer enough for the world-beating 27-year-old. 

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She played like a woman with bigger aspirations from the outset of her third career meeting with Rakhimova on Sunday, opening festivities on the tournament’s biggest show court with an imperious onslaught. 

She regularly wrenched her cross-court forehands into the open court for winners, delivered plenty of diabolical drop shots and kept her 23-year-old opponent on the back foot for the majority of points. 

And she did it all in rapid fashion. 

Sabalenka fired her third of five aces of the day down the T to close out a lopsided opening set in a mere 26 minutes.

Due to periodic spits of rain on Sunday the roof was closed above Chatrier, and the lack of wind may have aided the clean and mean ball-striking produced by Sabalenka. Then again, the three-time Grand Slam champion’s uncanny ability to deliver jaw-dropping power and precision has never been in doubt.

Rakhimova, who has won just five games in four career sets at Roland-Garros against Sabalenka, simply couldn't find a way through on this day. The crowd tried to urge her on after she quickly fell behind 2-0 in the second set, and when she threatened to break serve two games later, but Sabalenka made sure to keep the door closed.

This year’s Madrid Open champion never dropped her focus, and never let Rakhimova into the match. 

After muscling through a tight game to take a double break 3-0 lead in set two, Sabalenka saved the only two break points she faced in the afternoon to hold for 4-0. She converted her first match point two games later to complete her victory in 60 blink-and-you-missed-it minutes. 

Key stats

With her win Sabalenka became the top-seeded woman with the fewest games conceded in her opening match at Roland-Garros since Serena Williams defeated Anna Tatishvili, 6-0, 6-1, in the opening round in 2013.

Williams went on to win her second of three career titles in Paris that year.

Sabalenka improves to 17-7 lifetime at Roland-Garros, and 10-2 in Paris since 2024. She has reached a semi-final and a quarter-final in her last two appearances at Porte d’auteuil.  

The world No.1 cracked 30 winners, including 17 off the forehand side. She won 46 of 66 rallies that lasted four points or fewer and won an impressive 66 percent of her first-serve return points. 

Rakhimova drops to 0-7 against the top 10, and 0-3 against Sabalenka.

Sabalenka's assessment 

With the tournament set to honour its greatest champion on Sunday in Court Philippe-Chatrier, Sabalenka was keen to mention the profound effect Rafael Nadal has had on all players who strive for greatness on the clay. 

“Whenever someone asks me about Rafa the first thing that comes to my mind is that he is a really hard worker,” she said. “Everything that he achieved is through really hard work, and it has been an inspiration for me and an inspiration for so many young players, so I’m really grateful for his example.” 

After today’s ceremony, Sabalenka says she hopes to hit up the 14-time champion for some advice on how to win the title. 

“I’ll watch this beautiful ceremony and I’ll try to catch him somewhere and ask him how I can win this tournament. Please, give me [one piece] of advice, or two – just a few, I don’t need more than that!” she said. 

Even if she doesn’t get Nadal’s ear, Sabalenka is more confident than ever on clay and believes that this could be the year she wins her maiden Roland-Garros title. 

“I think my game is pretty much ready to play on clay,” she told reporters during Friday’s media day press conference. “I definitely feel stronger than ever… Hopefully this is going to be the year when I'm really going to be proud of myself on the clay court."