LONDON: Elena Rybakina, the defending champion, opened proceedings on Centre Court on a rainy Tuesday. The Swiss Master, her hero, was in the Royal Box, only a few feet away from where she prepared to serve.
"I didn't start that well. I was not moving great," Rybakina said. "Straightaway there was a break." At that point, with the dark sky hovering over the arena, Steffi Graf's 1994 loss to American Lori McNeil in the first round here was trending.
Rybakina, however, rallied to beat the powerful American Shelby Rogers 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. The 24-year-old had 12 aces and won 41 of 44 points on her first serve.
"I really like Roger," Rybakina said. "When I was younger, I was always watching him play."
After the third-seeded defending champion dropped the first set, she managed to change gears. Rybakina, who withdrew from Roland Garros ahead of her third-round tie with a viral illness, has had just one match win on grass, coming into the grass-court major. The Kazakh, who paired her A-line Yonex dress with black undershorts, said she liked that she had the option of colour.
