Parisian weather brings troubles again after disrupting the opening ceremony of the event on Friday and postponing the men’s street skate competition on Saturday
After disrupting the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the rain also affected the schedule of the first day of tennis on Saturday. It caused the postponement of the debuts of Brazilian players Beatriz Haddad Maia, Laura Pigossi, and Luisa Stefani. Bia was set to play twice on Saturday, in both singles and doubles.
An Olympic medalist in doubles in Tokyo in 2021, Laura was the first tennis player scheduled to compete, as per the initial schedule, on Court 8. However, the bad weather even prevented the warm-up for her match against Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, which has now been rescheduled for Sunday.
Bia was also set to debut in singles on Saturday. As Brazil’s biggest hope for a medal in the event, she was supposed to face local player Varvara Gracheva in the second match scheduled on the Simonne-Mathieu Court, another outdoor court without a retractable roof, available only on the two largest courts in the Roland Garros complex.
The doubles match with Bia Haddad and Luisa Stefani could not take place either. The Brazilian duo is expected to face the Chinese pairs Yue Yuan and Shuai Zhang on Sunday. A total of 25 singles matches were postponed, including 11 from the men’s draw and 14 from the women’s.
SWIATEK WINS IN DEBUT
The top favorite for the gold medal in singles, Polish player Iga Swiatek confirmed her status in her debut. The world number 1 defeated Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets, 6/2 and 7/5. Her next opponent will be the winner of the match between Argentine Nadia Podoroska and French Diane Parry.
Current Roland Garros and Wimbledon runner-up, Italian Jasmine Paolini overcame another Romanian player, Ana Bogdan, with a score of 7/5 and 6/3. In another match that concluded on Saturday, local player Caroline Garcia disappointed the crowd by being eliminated right in her debut by Romanian Jaqueline Adina Cristian.