Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki was done hanging around as she walloped Georgina Garcia Perez 6-1 6-0 in double quick time to reach the third round of the French Open.
With the first three matches scheduled on Court Philippe Chatrier on day four all going the distance – and lasting a combined eight hours 46 minutes – Wozniacki did not even make it into the arena till shortly before 7pm local time.
But 51 minutes later the Danish second seed was offering Spanish qualifier Perez a consolation handshake after she secured a round three meeting with the winner of the all-French tussle between Alize Cornet and Pauline Parmentier.
Wozniacki dropped just 25 points in her lopsided win, limiting her mistakes to eight unforced errors and not facing a single break point.
“It was definitely a good match. I neutralised her serve, which was the main thing,” said the 27-year-old, whose best showing in Paris is two quarter-final appearances from 10 previous visits.
“And then from the baseline, I felt like I was in control for most of it. It felt good out there.”
Wozniacki, who won her first grand slam trophy at Melbourne this year, can return to the No. 1 ranking held by Simona Halep by winning the title in Paris.
Earlier, Halep refused to blame a rain delay for her sluggish start as she recovered to reach the second round of the French Open.
The Romanian survived an early scare against Alison Riske, ranked at 83 in the world, and a poor service game contributed to an awful start as she scored just nine points on her first serve.
But Halep, who is still searching for her maiden major title after three failed attempts, roared back in the second set as the 26-year-old restored parity in 24 minutes.
She piled on the pressure in the third set to erase any fears of an early exit, sealing the win 2-6 6-1 6-1 and confirming a meeting with another American challenger in Taylor Townsend.
“I had a slow start because it’s always tough to start this tournament,” Halep said.
“But it was good that I came back so strong. I felt really well in the end of the match, and that’s the most important for now.”
Reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens wasted no time reaching the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over qualifier Magdalena Frech.
Elina Svitolina, who beat Halep to retain her Italian Open title in the lead up to Roland Garros, made tough work of Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova but advanced to the third round with a 6-3 6-4 win.
Eighth seed Petra Kvitova is also through with a 6-0 6-4 result over Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena and will next face Anett Kontaveit who beat Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 7-5 6-2.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka advanced with a 6-4 7-5 win over Kazakh Zarina Diyas.
