Aryna Sabalenka drops just one game in ruthless Roland Garros opener

It took Sabalenka exactly one hour to seal an emphatic 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kamilla Rakhimova inside Court Philippe Chatrier, breaking serve five times in a convincing display.

The Belarusian hit 30 winners compared to just 17 unforced errors and landed 80% of her first serves in play, rarely giving world No 78 Rakhimova a chance to play freely.

"I'm super happy to be back in Paris, I love playing in front of all you guys," said the world No 1 on-court.

"I hope I can do really good here. It's hard in round one to play someone you really like, but I'm happy to have got the win."

Sabalenka will not return to court until Wednesday, with opening-round matches spread across three days at Roland Garros.

However, the 27-year-old has already hit some impressive milestones ahead of what she will hope proves a historic fortnight in the French capital.

As the world No 1, Sabalenka is the top seed at the French Open for the first time, and the nature of her win undoubtedly sends out a statement of intent to her main rivals.

The Belarusian's 6-1, 6-0 triumph was the most one-sided victory for a top seed in the women's singles draw in 12 years, following in the footsteps of Serena Williams.

Back in 2013, Williams defeated Anna Tatishvili 6-0, 6-1 to start her campaign in Paris and ultimately went on to lift the title; could that be a potential omen for Sabalenka?

Sabalenka has become ruthlessly efficient across the four Grand Slams when it comes to progressing through to the latter stages of the tournament.

And, she has found herself in very little trouble in opening-round major matches in recent years.

The three-time Grand Slam champion has now won her last 10 Grand Slam main-draw matches in straight sets, not dropping more than four games in a single set during that time.

The last woman to take a set off Sabalenka in the opening round of a Grand Slam match was Chloe Paquet at the 2022 French Open.

Paquet took the opener against Sabalenka three years ago, only for the Belarusian to roar back and seal a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph.

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