One down, two to go for Andreescu in Paris

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ROLAND GARROS – For the second consecutive year, 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu has to go through qualifying to get to the main draw at Roland Garros.

A year ago, she couldn’t make it.

This year, her prospects are looking a little brighter.

The 25-year-old saw off 17-year-old French player Daphnée Mpetshi Perricard, 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday before a huge crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen, to advance to the second round.

She will play Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia on Wednesday.

“With the French crowd out there getting younger, every year the crowd gets wild and wilder for the French. But, I mean, that’s the beauty of sports, right ? And playing her I knew that was gonna be a factor,” Andreescu said after the match. “I mean she played great. I think we had, like, eight very, very close games back-and-forth so the score could’ve gone either way. I’m just super happy with how I managed my emotions.

“I felt pretty good out there. I like when the conditions are like this because it kind of slows down the ball little bit. So I can set up for my shots a little bit better.”

Here’s what it looked like.

The first two games – an opening break by Andreescu and a hold – took more than 16 minutes.

Tough day for young Daphnée

Mpetshi Perricard, who is the younger sister of 6-8 colossus Giovanni (who was on hand to support), has progressed slowly but steadily in full view of the French tennis fans who have waited a long time for someone to break through in a major way on the women’s side.

At first, when she would get wild cards into the juniors, she didn’t appear fully invested. But over the last couple of years she has improved quite a bit. Still, Suzanne Lenglen was filled to the brim through the match, as play was delayed on the outdoor courts because of rain.

Suzanne Lenglen has a retractable roof.

She was clearly feeling the pressure, the weight of expectation. And she was playing a former Grand Slam champion. There was never a moment, save for a couple of forehand returns she just CRUSHED, that she seemed to be able to free herself up and just go for it.

When it was finally over, she broke down in tears.

That’s when Andreescu went over to console her. Which earned her a standing ovation from the crowd that was (relatively benignly, for French tennis fans) rooting for her to lose during the match.

Absolute class from Bianca Andreescu #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/z6jDuZNWN7
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 19, 2026

Hruncakova next up

Andreescu’s coach, Dusan Vemic, was out on court 4 after the match, scouting her next opponent.

It was either going to be Hruncakova, a 28-year-old who was in the top 50 in singles and top 30 in doubles earlier in her career, but who has struggled to get back to that level.

Or it might have been Katherine Sebov, a Canadian who actually made her Roland Garros debut the same year Andreescu did, in the 2015 junior event.

Sebov hasn’t had the same career track. But after dropping out of Grand Slam qualifying territory, she fought hard to get back this year and made it in.

After dropping the first set 6-0, Sebov made a match of it in the second set, ultimately losing a tiebreak to go out.

Here’s what that looked like.

Sebov’s flat hitting style likely gave Hruncakova fewer problems than the Slovak will have to deal with Wednesday. Andreescu’s changes of pace, depth and speed and ability to finish points off at the net are likely to expose Hruncakova’s relative challenges on the movement side.

If Andreescu can win that, she would play either Dominika Salkova, the No. 12 seed, or Susan Bandecchi for a spot in the main draw.