Sabalenka, Paolini, Zheng lead a no-holds start to Roland Garros

Roland Garros, which started the trend toward Sunday openings at the Grand Slams, was on to something. It’s a bonus day of tennis, but don’t think it’s what the business people call a “soft” open.

Day 1 at this French Open features the World No.1, the recently minted Rome champion and the reigning Olympic singles gold medalist. And that’s just for starters.

These are all players from the top half of the draw. Monday’s schedule will complete Round 1 from the top half and include some matches from the bottom.

We break down Sunday’s best matches:

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Kamilla Rakhimova

Head-to-head: 2-0, Sabalenka, including a 6-2, 6-2 third-round victory two years ago at Roland Garros.

Sabalenka won her third title in Madrid at the beginning of the clay season but struggled by her high standards in Rome, exiting in the quarterfinals. Sabalenka has shown steady progress at Roland Garros, reaching the semifinals and quarterfinals the past two years.

Rakhimova, currently ranked No. 75, recently won two qualifying matches in Rome and defeated Wang Xinyu in the main draw. Two years ago, she had her best effort in Pairs, winning two main-draw matches -- before falling to Sabalenka.

No. 4 Jasmine Paolini vs. Yuan Yue

Head-to-head: 1-0, Paolini, two years ago in Beijing.

The Italian Paolini lost her second match in Madrid -- 6-2, 6-1 to Maria Sakkari -- but was born again in her home country. Paolini raced through the field in Rome, defeating six Top 50 players: Lulu Sun, Ons Jabeur, Jelena Ostapenko, Diana Shnaider, Peyton Stearns and Coco Gauff in the final.

Paolini’s trajectory at Roland Garros followed a similar arc. After winning only three matches in five previous appearances, she reached last year’s final.

This will be Yuan’s first singles match since last year’s Olympics -- at Roland Garros. The 33-year-old teamed with Anna Blinkova to win the doubles title earlier this year in Austin.

No. 8 Zheng Qinwen vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Head-to-head: 1-0, Pavlyuchenkova, 7-5, 6-1 last year in the third round at Cincinnati.

After a breakthrough 2024 season, which included winning Olympic gold in singles and reaching the WTA Finals championship match, Zheng has faced a tougher start this year. She reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells and Miami (losing to the Nos. 1 and 2 players), but came alive in Rome with a run to the semifinals, beating Sabalenka along the way.

Pavlyuchenkova is only ranked No. 51, but has a terrific feel for Roland Garros, reaching the quarterfinals two years ago and the 2021 final, losing to Barbora Krejcikova.

No. 13 Elina Svitolina vs. Zeynep Sonmez

Head-to-head: 0-0.

Life begins at 30 for Svitolina, who has compiled the best record on clay among Hologic WTA tour players (12-2, .857). There was a title in Rouen, France, the semifinals in Madrid and quarters in Rome, and that doesn’t include a pair of earlier Billie Jean King Cup clay-court wins.

Sonmez, ranked No. 76, had a pair of Top 30 wins in Merida, Mexico (Maria Sakkari and Magda Linette) and qualified into the main draw in Madrid.

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No. 16 Amanda Anisimova vs. qualifier Nina Stojanovic

Head-to-head: 0-0.

Anisimova won the WTA 1000 in Doha and has a record of success in Paris. She was a semifinalist in 2019 as a teenager (beating Simona Halep in the quarters) and has an overall record of 11-6.

After losing in the final round of qualifying at the Australian Open, the No. 199-ranked Stojanovic went one stage further, advancing to the main draw with a 3-0 record in the preliminary rounds.

Other notable matches:

No. 11 Diana Shnaider vs. qualifier Anastasiia Sobolieva

No. 18 Donna Vekic vs. Anna Blinkova

No. 27 Leylah Fernandez vs. Olga Danilovic

No. 28 Peyton Stearns vs. Eva Lys

No. 29 Linda Noskova vs. Anastasia Potapova

Petra Kvitova vs. Viktorija Golubic

Alexandra Eala vs. Emiliana Arango

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