Beatriz Haddad Maia, Luisa Stefani and Marcelo Melo won their first Roland Garros doubles matches on Wednesday. Marcelo Demoliner was knocked out in the first round. In singles, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, current world number 1, and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, vice-leader of the classification, qualified for the third round.

In women’s doubles, Bia and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka beat Estonian Kaia Kanepi and Serbian Tereza Mihalikova in just 56 minutes, with splits of 6/0 and 6/1. In the second round, they will face Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, who form the number two in the seeded partnership.

In singles, Bia won the debut with ease on Monday. And he returns to the court this Thursday to duel with the Russian Diana Shnaider, currently 108th in the world.

Luisa Stefani, meanwhile, defeated Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Germany’s Tatjana Maria by a 6/2 brace. The Brazilian forms a duo with the experienced Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, her most recurring duo.

“Very happy with our debut. We played well from start to finish. A great way to start a Grand Slam and even happier to be back and competing in my first Women’s Doubles Major after surgery,” commented Luisa, who returned to play a Grand Slam in January, at the Australian Open, only in mixed doubles – and was champion with Rafael Matos.

In the second round, the Brazilian and Canadian will face the winner of the duel between Alexa Guarachi (Chile)/Erin Routtliffe (New Zealand) and Katarzyna Piter (Poland)/Dalma Galfi (Hungary).

In men’s doubles, veteran Marcelo Melo achieved his 600th career victory in doubles by overcoming the first round. He and Australian John Peers beat Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic and American William Blumberg, by 5/7, 6/3 and 6/4. Melo is the Brazilian tennis player with the most victories on the professional circuit in history.

Marcelo Demoliner, in turn, was knocked out early. He and Italian Andrea Vavassori were beaten by Chilean Nicolas Jarry and Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler 6-3, 6-7 (4-7) 6-3.

SINGLE KEYS

One of the main contenders for the title in Paris, Carlos Alcaraz won the second and reached the third round beating Japan’s Taro Daniel by 6/1, 3/6, 6/1 and 6/2. The world number 1 lost his first set in this edition of the French Grand Slam. Next, he will face 26th seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who qualified by beating Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6/2, 3/6, 6/3, 6/3.

Vice-champion in Paris in 2021, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th) eliminated the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena 3-0, with partials of 6/3, 7/6 (7/4) and 6/2. His next opponent will be the Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, semi-finalist of 2020. The Argentinian tennis player qualified by eliminating the Portuguese Nuno Borges by 7/6 (7/3), 6/4 and 6/3.

Russian Karen Khachanov (11th), Briton Cameron Norrie (14th), Italians Fabio Fognini and Lorenzo Sonego, Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis and Austrian Sebastian Ofner, executioner of American Sebastian Korda (24th), also skilled in men.

On the women’s side, the star of the day was Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, world number two. She beat compatriot Iryna Shymanovich 7/5 6/2. She has yet to meet her third-round opponent. She will emerge from the duel between the Polish Magdalena Frech and the Russian Kamilla Rakhimova.

Jessica Pegula (3rd seed) also qualified, more easily. Italian Camila Giorgi left the match after losing the first set 6-2. In the third round, the American will be in a duel with the Belgian Elise Mertens (28th), who beat the Colombian Camila Osorio by 6/3 and 7/6 (7/3).

Next to them came the Russians Daria Kasatkina (9th) and Anastasia Potapova (24th), the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (27th) and the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina. The list of eliminated favorites grew on Wednesday, starting with local Caroline Garcia (5th). Russian Liudmila Samsonova (15th), Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (17th) and Chinese Zheng Qinwen (19th) also fell.