Sabalenka into the Paris first round: Bouzas Maneiro falls 6-4, 6-2

On the way off Court Philippe-Chatrier on Tuesday evening, Sabalenka stopped in front of the wooden board with signatures on which every tournament winner signs after their match. She reached for a marker, but then lowered her hand and just touched the board with her fingers, as if checking the wood was really there. Only one cameraman, EPA’s, captured the composed moment. “I had never done this in the first round,” she said in the later press conference, “but here I promised myself I wouldn’t play a tournament, I’d play every court.”

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, top seed and current WTA world number one, beat Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-4, 6-2 in the Roland Garros first round in 75 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Bouzas Maneiro, who at the previous Roland Garros knocked the reigning champion out, this time did not have the same potential: in the first set she was on a break point three times, but never managed to convert. Sabalenka in the second set switched to a more aggressive approach and pressured the serve of the Spaniard, who landed 36 per cent of first serves, not enough for the tournament’s level.

Match statistics and the latest from the protocol

Sabalenka in the match produced 22 winners against 12 unforced errors, five aces and two double faults, with an average first serve of 173 kilometres per hour. Her first-serve points won were 78 per cent, second serve 56 per cent. Bouzas Maneiro had 9 winners against 24 unforced errors, which is essentially the quick explanation of the match: when the Belarusian opens in the first round with stability, the younger opponents grab for risk in panic, and the risk comes back as an error.

In the second half of the match, Sabalenka landed 71 per cent of first serves, her best Paris figure in the last four seasons. Coach Antoaneta Couvreur, who after the 2025 final undertook a technical revision of her serve, in a statement to TNT Sports after the match emphasised that the first serve has been the theme the Belarusian has worked on particularly hard over the last four months. “When she doesn’t serve at 70 per cent, she is an ordinary player,” said the coach, “when she serves at 70 per cent, she is unbeatable at this tournament.”

What next, where does the tournament go for Sabalenka?

Next up is Britain’s Raquel Leclerc, who in the first round beat Russia’s Xenia Veselinova 6-3, 7-5. Sabalenka has played her twice before, both times on grass, and won both in straight sets. On clay they meet for the first time. The match is scheduled for Thursday May 28, with the court not yet officially set, but the centre court is expected given Sabalenka’s status as top seed. With a win in this match the Belarusian would have, in the third round, one of two possible opponents: China’s Zheng Qinwen or Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova.

The upper half of the women’s draw played the first round at varying rhythm. Iga Swiatek in her opening match beat Australian Emerson Jones 7-5, 6-3, a result the Polish player is not most pleased with given her historical Paris record. Coco Gauff in her match against Olga Danilovic had a shorter outing, 6-2, 6-3, with the note that her first serve “worked the way it worked in Madrid”. Madison Keys and Caroline Garcia also progressed without dropping a set.

On the personal side, I see Sabalenka at the 2026 Roland Garros as the strongest title favourite since Justine Henin played in Paris. With four more 75-minute rounds, if she can hold the tempo, she could win, for the first time, the only of the four Grand Slams she still lacks. On the other side, the danger remains the quarter-final bracket, where Mirra Andreeva, the Russian teenager who last season knocked Sabalenka out in the Paris round of 16, could be waiting.

Sabalenka’s next match is on Thursday May 28, with the time still to be set in the schedule, most likely at 2 p.m. local time.