World number three Iga Swiatek continued her bid to rediscover her best form at the French Open, reaching the third round with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Czech Sara Bejlek in a match littered with unforced errors.
The four-times champion, who has lost only twice at Roland Garros since 2020, had far too much quality for her opponent but made 38 unforced errors, including a series of double faults.
Swiatek explained her lack of precision by the nature of the opposition.
"She was pretty good in defence, and I had many opportunities to attack. Sometimes even too many. So when you attack, you're going to make more mistakes, because it's easier to push the ball back than to actually add a lot of energy to it and try to open the court," the 24-year-old said.
"So, yes, sometimes I made some mistakes while playing these high balls, because the ball is jumping quite high. It's not easy to judge if it's the one that you should go or stay back and wait for the next one.
"The rhythm wasn't quite obvious. But I didn't mind. I wanted to be flexible and adjust and play my game. I had some moments where the mistakes happened, but at the end I feel like I was the one who had control over the game, and it was up to me if I'm going to finish these points or make a mistake."
Swiatek will also be relieved not to have to face Jelena Ostapenko, against whom she has a 0-6 record, next after the Latvian lost to another Pole, Magda Linette.
But Elena Rybakina was sent spinning out after a 3-6 6-1 7-6(10-4) loss to Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva in the second round, leaving the women's draw short of a genuine contender for the title in Paris.
Russian-born Kazakh Rybakina arrived at Roland Garros as the second seed following her Australian Open victory in January and earned her tour-leading 31st match victory after dismantling Veronika Erjavec in the opening round.
The 26-year-old was unable to conjure up her best form on Court Suzanne Lenglen, however, as she wilted in the deciding set tiebreak and handed the victory to her opponent with a forehand that went long.
It was world number 55 Starodubtseva's first top-five win and she will take on American Hailey Baptiste or China's Wang Xiyu in the third round.
Ukraine's Elina Svitolina (above) reached the third round by dismantling Kaitlin Quevedo of Spain 6-0 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic from Switzerland beat American Caty McNally 6-4 6-0.
Fran Jones' fightback proved in vain as she lost to 27th seed Marie Bouzkova.
FRENCH OPEN FIXTURES AND RESULTS
Jones was hugely emotional after posting her first grand slam main draw win against Beatriz Haddad Maia in the opening round on Sunday.
Like her good friend Emma Raducanu, who played on the same court in her first-round defeat, Jones recovered admirably from losing 10 of the first 11 games only to ultimately go down 6-0 7-6 (3).
Additional reporting: PA
