Top seeds advance at Roland Garros as veterans Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils exit after emotional final appearances
World No. 3 Iga Światek and second seed Elena Rybakina advanced comfortably to the second round of the French Open on Monday, while veteran stars Stan Wawrinka and Gaël Monfils brought emotional closure to their Roland Garros careers after first-round exits.
Third seed Świątek, a four-time French Open champion, cruised past Australian teenager Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2 in just one hour, delivering a dominant start to her campaign.
The Polish star is competing in her first Grand Slam since beginning a coaching partnership with Francis Roig, former long-time coach in Rafael Nadal’s camp.
Rybakina also produced a commanding performance, defeating Slovenia’s Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-2 to secure a straightforward passage into the next round.
In the women’s draw, Elina Svitolina mounted a comeback win over Hungary’s Anna Bondar, building momentum after her recent Rome title triumph.
Former French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini, Karolína Muchová and Jeļena Ostapenko also progressed to the second round.
In the men’s draw, Casper Ruud, Ben Shelton, Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev all secured opening-round victories.
China’s Wu Yibing defeated Marcos Giron 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 to register his first main-draw win at Roland Garros and will face 10th seed Flavio Cobolli in the second round.
The day was marked by emotional farewells as Wawrinka and Monfils exited in the first round before announcing their retirement from Roland Garros competition.
Former champion Wawrinka, 41, lost 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 to Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong in his final French Open appearance.
“I was lucky to play for 25 years as a tennis player,” Wawrinka said. “It was amazing — more than what I could expect.”
“To finish with so much support, so much love from the people, that’s exactly the reason why I kept playing for so long,” he added.
Monfils, 39, fell to fellow Frenchman Hugo Gaston in a dramatic five-set battle, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-0.
Tribute videos featuring Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were shown on court to honour the two veterans’ careers.
