Canada’s Victoria Mboko opened her French Open campaign with a confident straight-sets win over Czechia’s Nikola Bartunkova, advancing 6-1, 6-2 in 69 minutes on Tuesday in Paris. The 19-year-old from Burlington, Ontario, was sharp from the start, converting six of her 10 break-point chances and facing only two break points on her own serve. She defended one of them and controlled the match throughout, continuing the momentum from last week’s run to the final at the Strasbourg International tournament. Mboko, the ninth seed in the women’s draw, is playing her second French Open and reached the third round in her debut last year. Her next opponent will be another Czech player, Katerina Siniakova, a 30-year-old veteran ranked No. 36 in singles and also part of the top-ranked women’s doubles team at Roland Garros with American Taylor Townsend.
Earlier in the day, fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov was knocked out in the first round after a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 loss to Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria. The 27-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ontario, struggled with consistency despite producing 10 aces on the clay. He committed eight double faults and 48 unforced errors, which proved costly against the 22-year-old Faria. The Portuguese player gained crucial momentum late in the second set with a break to lead 6-5 before serving it out, leaving Shapovalov on the edge of elimination. Faria then took an early 2-1 lead in the third set with another break, and although Shapovalov briefly responded by breaking back, Faria immediately regained control and closed out the match. Shapovalov, ranked 39th in the world entering the tournament, fell to 8-11 on the season.
The Canadian action at Roland Garros was not finished Tuesday, as fourth-seeded Félix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal was scheduled to face Germany’s Daniel Altmaier later in the day. Mboko’s victory ensured Canada had at least one positive result from the opening round, while Shapovalov’s defeat added to a difficult start for the nation’s men’s contingent at the year’s second Grand Slam.
