The remaining second-round women’s matches on day five at the French Open brought much drama and entertainment. Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva, two of the pre-tournament favorites, were among those in action in Paris, along with Australian Open champion Madison Keys and Paula Badosa. We here at LWOT review the action and choose the match of the day.
French Open Day 5 Women’s Recap
Who Looked Good
Coco Gauff won comfortably for a second consecutive time at this year’s French Open. 18-year-old Tereza Valentova, who won her maiden Grand Slam main draw match in the previous round, put up a good showing and can be proud of her performance. Ultimately, Gauff proved far too good and prevailed 6-2 6-4. The world #2 dominated on return, particularly when facing Valentova second delivery as she won 80% of those points.
Madison Keys produced an even more dominant display against Katie Boulter. Both women try to control matches with their serves and forehands, but Keys – when she is on song – is better-equipped to do it than the Briton and it showed as she won 6-1 6-3. It could have been a heavier defeat for Boulter had she not been resilient on the break points she faced. The Briton saved 12 of the 17 chances that the seventh seed had to break her serve.
Jessica Pegula was the third American to triumph in straight sets on day five of the French Open as she overcame Ann Li 6-3 7-6 in a competitive contest on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Pegula had to withstand many powerful forehands from Li, who dominated for periods with that shot. The 2024 US Open runner-up did well to stay composed and win in two sets.
Mirra Andreeva’s quest for a maiden Grand Slam appearance remains alive after she beat Ashlyn Krueger 6-3 6-4. As expected, Krueger went for broke, which disrupted the teenager enough to break three times. However, Andreeva broke five times and played more consistently to reach the third round.
2020 French Open runner-up Sofia Kenin continued her good season with a 7-6 6-4 victory against Victoria Azarenka. She recovered from 2-5 in the opening set, and did not look back after that. Two-time Australian Open winner Azarenka undoubtedly rues not closing out the first set, especially since she played well for most of the match.
Who struggled
2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova exited the French Open after a 0-6 3-6 loss to Veronika Kudermetova. The Czech beat the same player in the opening round of her run to the Wimbledon title last year but was way off the pace at Roland Garros. Although Krejcikova did not perform well at all in the rematch at Roland Garros, it would be wrong to be harsh on the Czech since this was just her third match back after being out for six months with an injury.
Anhelina Kalinina also had a tough day. She hammered Elina Avanesyan in the first round, but was on the receiving end of a 1-6 2-6 thrashing in Paris against the home favourite Lois Boisson. Despite the French wild card deserving considerable credit for her powerful ball-striking from start to finish in front of a supportive crowd, Kalinina was nowhere close to her best.
Elisabetta Cocciaretto also did not do herself justice in the French Open second round. The Italian can be dangerous on clay and reached the fourth round at Roland Garros last year. She did not show her attributes during a comprehensive 1-6 3-6 defeat to Ekaterina Alexandrova on Court 6.
Match of the Day
There were some entertaining three-set women’s battles on day at the French Open. 2019 runner-up Marketa Vondrousova looked to be cruising to victory against Magdalena Frech, but ultimately had to dig in to progress 6-0 4-6 6-3. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Robin Montgomery’s encounter went to the wire, and contained several superb forehands from both women. The Spaniard ultimately prevailed 6-4 4-6 7-5.
Paula Badosa and Elena-Gabriela Ruse’s terrific match on Court Simmone-Mathieu was the best on Day 5. After the former world No. 2 took an early 2-0 lead, Ruse dominated with her formidable forehand in the next five games. Badosa stopped the rot at 2-5, but the Romanian broke for a fourth time in the set to win it 6-3. The Spaniard threatened to let a 5-2 lead slip in the second before composing herself well to serve it out and force a decider.
There were many excellent rallies throughout the contest, but Badosa served phenomenally in the third. She broke in the opening game and saved one break point to go 2-0 up. Despite Ruse continuing to fight hard, Badosa did not give her any more opportunities to break. The former world No. 2 triumphed 3-6 6-4 6-4 to back up her opening-round victory against Naomi Osaka.
Main photo credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images
