Iga Swiatek began her title defence with a comfortable win today over Kaja Juvan of Slovenia 6-0, 7-5 . The reigning French Open champion, celebrating her 20th birthday, was in no mood to spend a lot of time on the court as she needed just an hour and 27 minutes to win her first-round match.

Swiatek gave out a bagel in the first set to Juvan,  making it three consecutive sets that the Pole had not lost a game after she defeated former number one Karolina Pliskova 6-0 6-0 in the final in Rome.

With nothing to lose Juvan went on the offensive in the second set and after an early trade of breaks Swiatek got the crucial break in the 12th game to set up a second-round clash against either Shelby Rogers or Rebecca Peterson.

Italian prospect Jannik Sinner saved a match point before winning a marathon men's singles first-round match against Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France. Sinner, who had reached the quarter-final of French Open last year, clinched a 6-1, 4-6, 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4 win over the senior campaigner.

Sinner next faces fellow Italian Gianluca Mager. He could face Rafael Nadal in a potential fourth-round clash. Notably, he had lost to Nadal in the quarter-final on his Roland Garros debut last year.