French Open 2023: Elena Rybakina sees off Linda Noskova to reach third round at Roland-Garros

Updated 01/06/2023 at 11:05 GMT

Elena Rybakina continued her quest for a first French Open title with a straight sets win over Linda Noskova. The Kazakh star arrived at Roland-Garros on the back of victory at the Italian Open on clay, with her early performances in Paris suggesting she is in contention for the title. If all goes to plan, she is projected to meet defending champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.

'I can't say it's easy...' – Rybakina on adjusting to clay

Elena Rybakina powered into the French Open third round with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Linda Noskova on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

The fourth seed was imperious on serve, swatting away all four break points she faced, as she booked a clash with Sara Sorribes Tormo at Roland-Garros.

Rybakina has surged up the WTA rankings to No. 4 after a brilliant 12 months. She won a maiden Grand Slam at Wimbledon last July and reached the Australian Open final in January, also claiming wins at Indian Wells and the Italian Open this season.

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The 23-year-old dominated the early baseline rallies, encouraging Noskova to go for big shots and invariably missing. She broke in the third game and held her serve with ease, taking the opener with her sixth set point as her opponent finally cracked with a double-fault.

The double-faults continued to land Noskova in trouble in the second set, with Rybakina regularly getting a look in at deuce.

But it was Rybakina who offered up the first break points of the set at 3-3 as a trio of awful errors – a wild overhead, a missed mid-court forehand and a double-fault – left her staring down 15-40. However she recovered to deuce, made another glaring miss, before winning three points on the spin to wriggle out of danger.

It proved the decisive moment. Rybakina raced into a 0-40 lead in the next game and was soon celebrating a break for 5-3. Although Rybakina wobbled when serving for the match, she eventually got over the line at the fourth time of asking.

Rybakina has won titles on all three surfaces in the last month and could climb to world No. 3 with a good run in Paris, but in her post-match interview she was reluctant to say she felt at home on clay.

"I am trying. I cannot say it is easy for me [on clay]," she said.

"I think every match gets you better and better. I was struggling a bit with a serve. It was a bit slippery for me today, I don’t know why. I am trying to improve and hopefully with every match I can play better and better."

She is projected to meet two-time champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.

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