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Serena Williams begins her French Open title defence against Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova. Join The Roar for live scores from 12:30am (AEST).
A seasoned veteran stands in the way of Williams in the first round, but the American still starts a strong favourite.
Rybarikova has been around the WTA tour for a long while, yet she is only 27 years of age and already has four WTA titles under her belt. Throw in wins against the likes of Li Na, Flavia Pennetta and Caroline Wozniaki, and the Slovak certainly has the experience to test Williams on clay.
In their last match-up, Williams outclassed Rybarikova en route to a 6-1, 6-1 victory, in Toronto three years ago, but one expects the Slovak to put up more of a fight this time round.
The advantage Williams continues to have over players on the WTA tour is pure power. Even at 34 years of age, the reigning French Open champion is unrivalled when it comes to shot-making prowess. Her serve is also consistently the strongest on tour.
In short, when Williams fires, she wins against any opponent. The only thing that disrupts Williams on occasion is her tendency to produce high unforced-error counts when she struggles to find rhythm early in matches.
As hard as Rybarikova might try today, the result of this match-up will be dictated by Williams’ performance. If she plays well, she will win easily.
Williams in two sets.