It was not the start Ashleigh Barty would have wished for, but she will be grateful for small mercies. The top seed survived an injury scare and the determined challenge of Bernarda Pera of the United States to move into the second round of the French Open 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
It was a gutsy but subdued performance from the world No 1, who looked to be slipping to a shock defeat until a break for medical treatment at the end of the second set turned the match on its head. Barty later revealed that she is suffering from an injury to her left hip.
“It’s going to be a little bit tough this week,” she said. “A massive part of today was accepting the fact that, yes, I may not be absolutely 100% but I’m certainly good enough to go out there and fight and do the best I can and give myself a chance to win matches.”
The Australian enjoyed a fine build-up to Roland Garros, winning the title in Stuttgart before reaching the final of the Madrid Open, but she has played a lot of tennis in the process. Another injury setback, following her withdrawal from the Italian Open with an arm problem, does not bode well at an event that tests the body like no other.
While Barty was returning to Roland Garros for the first time since winning the title two years ago, Pera had previously mustered just two victories on the Parisian clay. At times, you would barely have known which player was which.
A left-hander with a powerful, wristy forehand and a vicious, spinning serve, the 70th-ranked Pera grew up on clay and has won seven titles on the surface. Two years ago, she beat the former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko on clay in the Latvian resort city of Jurmala. As Barty discovered, she has the game and the composure to trouble the best.
The pair had never faced each other before, and it took the world No1 time to come to terms with her opponent’s singular style of play. Pera showed her strength of character by surviving a nine-minute opening game on serve, but briefly lost her way following an early exchange of breaks.
Pera’s wobble enabled Barty to take a commanding 5-2 lead, but from there the top seed’s game began to unravel. As her opponent’s play became increasingly error strewn, Pera reclaimed a break before Barty managed to serve out the set 6-4.
The shift of momentum was clearly perceptible, however, and as the American stuck gamely to the task she grabbed an early break to move 3-0 ahead. Barty, who had her left thigh heavily strapped throughout, seemed to be increasingly hampered physically, and as the set progressed her first-serve percentage dipped almost as sharply as her confidence, falling to just 54%.
Barty took a medical time out at the conclusion of the set, and the delay that ensued did nothing to help Pera. It was a shift of fortune that echoed Barty’s quarter-final defeat to Karolina Muchova at the Australian Open, when the world No 1 seemed to lose impetus after the Czech took a break for treatment between the second and third sets.
The decisive breakthrough came when two wayward forehands from Pera gifted Barty a break for 4-2. The Australian did not require a second invitation, breaking again at 5-2 to set up a second round appointment with either Poland’s Magda Linette or the French wildcard Chloe Paquet.
There were emotional scenes later in the day when Carla Suárez Navarro, twice a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros, bowed out of the tournament for the final time with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 defeat against Sloane Stephens of the United States.
Suárez Navarro, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma last September and underwent months of treatment before announcing her recovery last month, served for the match in the second set and came within two points of victory against the 2018 finalist.
“I’m really proud of myself and really happy to have the chance to play here one last time,” said Suárez Navarro. “It was a long time, really tough moments, tough months. “But every time I had on my mind that I want to be here, I want to come back. Roland Garros is one of my favourite tournaments, so I was really clear that my first tournament will be this one.”
Elsewhere, the tournament suffered another high-profile departure, following Naomi Osaka’s decision to pull out, when former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was forced to withdraw with a freak injury. Kvitova, twice a semi-finalist in Paris, hurt her ankle while fulfilling her media obligations after Sunday’s first-round victory over Belgium’s Greet Minnen.
“During my post-match press requirement on Sunday I fell and hurt my ankle,” wrote Kvitova on Twitter. “Unfortunately, after an MRI and much discussion with my team, I have made the tough decision that it would be unwise to play on.”