PARIS, May 28, 2017

Monica Puig advanced to the second round at Roland Garros with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win over 31st seed Victoria Vinci from Italy. The World No. 41 from Puerto Rico capitalized on four of her eight break point chances to prevail in one hour and 50 minutes.

Puig won her first match since she has benefited from the retirement of Katerina Siniakova in the opening round at the WTA Premier event in Chrarleston in the beginning of April. Consequently, her reaction after her victory on Sunday was quite emotional.

“It’s no surprise that I haven’t had the most amazing year. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself, and when you get to a Grand Slam it’s just a different feel. You want to do well. You want to pass rounds. You want to have some big wins. I’ve never beaten Roberta in competition before, and she’s such a tough player, especially on the clay,” Puig told afterwards.

“Today was just all about the heart and the fight and just I was willing to go the extra mile to bring out that match. And I’m just glad that at the end I was able to maintain my composure and close it out.”

Puig will next take on Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia, who defeated US-American Louisa Chirico 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Kvitova Wins First Match Of The Season

Petra Kvitova (photo: Brigitte Urban)

Earlier in the day, Petra Kvitova opened this year’s main draw action on Philippe Chatrier with an emotional comeback 6-3, 6-2 first roud win over Julia Boserup from the United States.

It has been barely five months since the 27-year-old Czech suffered career-threatening injuries to her playing hand when an intruder at her Prostejov apartment attacked her with a knife.

“It was nice and really heartwarming welcome in the Chatrier. My team was there. My family was there. Everyone who helped me through the difficult time. So it was a real pleasure to play in front of them. I think I played well after six months off. I’m happy with the game, of course, but I mean, it wasn’t really about the game today,” Kvitova told after her first encounter since the Fed Cup Final in November last year.

“I think I came here as a winner already. When we were thinking to play here, I was telling my coaches that I really want to come here and win my first match. And that’s what happened. The motivation which I had today was amazing, and I just didn’t want to lose. It was a little bit more special to me today than any other matches.”

Next up for Kvitova will be either US-American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands or Evgeniya Rodia from Russia.