The most veteran player at Wimbledon and on the elite of the women's circuit, Venus Williams (41 years old this month), gave herself a joy this Wednesday on court 1 by defeating the Romanian in three sets Mihaela Buzarnescu (7-5, 4-6 and 6-3 in 2:37). The American thus returns to the second round of the tournament three years later and will face the Turkish Ons Jabeur, 21st favorite, who swept the Swedish Peterson (6-2 and 6-1).
Venus achieved two marks in one stroke that, curiously, share numbers, since this was the 90th victory in the tournament for her in her 90th Grand Slam. She used the serve (10 aces) and the aggressiveness (33 winners) to overcome an opponent who plays with a protected ranking and who bothered her a lot, especially in the first two sets.
On the second day, the main seeds went ahead with their commitments with some ease. Elise Mertens (13th) beat Britain's Harriet Dart 6-1, 6-3 in 1:17 and will face China's Lin Zhu. Karolina Pliskova (8th) overcame a poor start in the first set and came back to beat the semi-finalist Zidansek of Slovenia at Roland Garros 7-5, 5-4 with 10 aces. He will meet the Croatian Donna Vekic. María Sakkari passed over the Dutch Arantxa Rus (double 6-1 in 49 minutes). The Greek made just 14 unforced errors and only lost four points on her serve, all with seconds. The American Shelby Rogers awaits you.
Gauff and Krejcikova advance; Bertens falls
Coco Gauff, seeded number 20, the best place in a Slam of her still short career, beat the British Francesca Jones without too much difficulty, the newcomer tennis player who was born with one thumb and three fingers on each hand, and seven toes. The American, who first shone when she reached the last 16 two years ago in London when she was 15, won by 7-5 and 6-4 at 1:37 and will face the Russian Vesnina or the Italian Trevisan. Also advanced with ease Barbora Krejcikova, champion a few weeks ago at Roland Garros, who subdued the promising 18-year-old Danish Clara Tauson (6-3 and 6-2 in 70 minutes). The Czech will meet the German Andrea Petkovic. And Kiki Bertens continues in the doldrums. The Dutch lost to the mighty Ukrainian Marta Kostiuk (18), who won 6-3 6-4 in 1:22 with 18 unforced errors. Her next opponent will be the Latvian Sevastova or the Kazakh Diyas.
Results and women's table calendar.