Roland-Garros wrap - Monday May 19

Around the grounds at the Porte D'auteuil venue on the first day of Opening Week

Roland-Garros 2025 on Day 1 of Qualifying©Corinne Dubreuil / FFT
 - Lee Goodall

The wait came to an end at 9am sharp on Monday morning when the gates opened and the first fans poured into Roland-Garros.

‘Opening Week’ has become an event in itself. Some 90,000 visitors will enjoy qualifying drama, open practice sessions and a variety of entertainment around the grounds over the next few days before a Sunday start for those in the main draw.

And within a couple of hours the place was buzzing. Jugglers hurled old wooden rackets just outside Court Suzanne-Lenglen, the two singles trophies were on display a few yards away and further along the concourse a string quartet provided the perfect backing track.

Day 1 Qualifying results

Tuesday order of play

The first of five days of men’s and women’s qualifying burst into life at 10am with former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu taking centre stage inside the 10,000-capacity Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

The 24-year-old showed her class during a 6-0 6-0 double-bagel demolition of China’s Yao Xinxin to get her campaign off to the perfect start. Afterwards she spoke to Chris Oddo about the improvements she’s made off court.

While ‘Bibi’ was taking care of business, former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Bernard Tomic was another of the more notable winners early on Monday, coming through against Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong in straight sets on Court 6.

Promising youngsters - Danish 10th seed Elmer Moller and American 11th seed Ethan Quinn - also eased into the second round on the more intimate courts.

Later on Lenglen, there was no such cause for celebration for Italian former top 10 star Fabio Fognini though.

The 37-year-old’s final visit to Roland-Garros ended abruptly when he was soundly beaten by American Nicolas Moreno de Alboran in straight sets.

While 256 hopefuls try to fight through three rounds of qualies over a nerve-shredding five days, the big names and higher ranked players can quietly tinker with their technique in a more laid-back atmosphere.

World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka was one of the first in front of a big crowd on the main Court Philippe-Chatrier. Alex Sharp got in early to keep a close eye on the top seed.

Three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur swapped places with Sabalenka in the Chatrier sun and Richard Gasquet and French No.2 Ugo Humbert were spotted training inside the 15,000-seater later in the day.

Enjoying some peace on the picturesque Court Simonne-Mathieu, last year’s Aussie Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen was hard at work, back at the venue where she won her Olympic singles gold medal last summer.

Margaux Rouvroy / Premier tour, qualifications, Roland-Garros 2025©André Ferreira / FFT

Margaux Rouvroy celebrates after 3hrs and 40mins on Court 13

Back to qualifying and women’s top seed Yuliia Starodubtseva had a stress-free day when she cruised against Belgian Hanne Vandewinkel 6-3 6-1. Dan Imhoff spoke to her afterwards about her desire to improve her consistency across the season.

Spanish veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas has so far made the most of his last visit to the French major after racing through his opening match in under an hour. He told us afterwards it was one of his best performances for months.

German former top-50 player Yannick Hanfmann - who beat Miami champ Jakub Mensik on clay recently - was another winner on Day 1 and afterwards explained the challenges of playing with a hearing impairment.

If there’s a player that deserves some sort of medal on Monday it is Frenchwoman Margaux Rouvroy who edged a 3hr 40min marathon against Japan's Haruka Kaji 6-7(7) 7-5 7-6(3).

Tuesday’s order of play sees the likes of Marin Cilic, Sara Errani, Christopher Eubanks and Taylor Townsend in qualifying action as well as French teenager Daphnée Mpetshi Perricard, the younger sister of men’s world No.32 Giovanni.

Alix Ramsay takes us through the matches to follow on the second day of men’s and women’s qualifying.