French Open 2017: Favourites Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina off to winning starts

ByEurosport

Updated 30/05/2017 at 19:42 GMT

Tournament favourite and third seed Simona Halep enjoyed a 6-2 6-3 victory over Slovakia's Jana Cepelova in the first round of the French Open.

Halep broke Cepelova three times to take the first set, and though the Romanian dropped serve twice in the second, the 25-year-old achieved four breaks of her own to win see out the match.

Halep brushes aside Cepalova in first round

Fifth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-4 6-3 in the first round.

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Italian Open champion Svitolina, who reached the quarter-finals of the French Open in 2015, will face Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round.

Pironkova, who reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year, beat German Mona Barthel 6-0 6-4.

American Madison Keys, the women's number 12 seed, beat Australia's Ashleigh Barty 6-3 6-2 for her first win on clay this season.

Keys will face Petra Martic in round two after the Croat beat Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2 7-5 earlier on Tuesday.

France's Alize Cornet beat Hungary's Timea Babos 6-2 6-7(5) 6-2 in an evenly contested first-round encounter.

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Cornet, who reached the fourth round in Paris in 2015, will face either Czech Barbora Strycova or American Alison Riske in the next round.

Meanwhile, Eugenie Bouchard came from a set down to beat Japan's Risa Ozaki 2-6 6-3 6-3.

Results from the French Open Women's Singles Round 1 matches on Tuesday

12-Madison Keys (U.S.) beat Ashleigh Barty (Australia) 6-3 6-2

Petra Martic (Croatia) beat Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-2 7-5

Alize Cornet (France) beat Timea Babos (Hungary) 6-2 6-7(5) 6-2

Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) beat 7-Johanna Konta (Britain) 1-6 7-6(2) 6-4

21-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat Maria Sakkari (Greece) 6-4 6-2

5-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) beat Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-3

Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) beat Mona Barthel (Germany) 6-0 6-4

Taylor Townsend (U.S.) beat Miyu Kato (Japan) 6-4 6-0

Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Peng Shuai (China) 6-3 6-1

28-Caroline Garcia (France) beat Nao Hibino (Japan) 6-2 6-2

20-Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) beat Alison Riske (U.S.) 6-3 6-0

Alison Van Uytvanck (Belgium) beat Naomi Osaka (Japan) 6-3 7-5

Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Rep) beat Amandine Hesse (France) 6-1 6-0

Tatjana Maria (Germany) beat Ying-Ying Duan (China) 6-4 6-1

Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) beat Risa Ozaki (Japan) 2-6 6-3 6-3

Daria Kasatkina (Russia) beat Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 7-5 6-4

Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) beat Annika Beck (Germany) 6-2 6-4

3-Simona Halep (Romania) beat Jana Cepelova (Slovakia) 6-2 6-3

Chloe Paquet (France) beat Kristyna Pliskova (Czech Rep) 6-7(4) 6-2 6-2

9-Agnieszka Radwanksa (Poland) beat Fiona Ferro (France) 6-1 6-1

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