French Open 2023: Jessica Pegula advances to second round after breezing past compatriot Danielle Collins

Jessica Pegula advanced to the second round of the French Open after breezing past American compatriot Danielle Collins 6-4 6-2.

Pegula kept herself in the ascendancy for the majority of a keenly fought encounter and did what was required to progress and book a second-round tie with Camila Giorgi.

Pegula spoke afterwards and – given her and Collins were last on court on Sunday – revealed the pre-match preparations that kept her fresh during the day.

“It’s never easy waiting all day, especially after Karen [Khachanov] went to five [sets] in the very first match [on Court Suzanne Lenglen],” she said.

“And then there were a lot of tough matches to follow so thanks to [Andrey] Rublev for not going five, because that would have been really tough.

“For some reason I felt like I needed some extra time so I took a nap and luckily was able to feel pretty good before I came out here.”

The world No. 3 broke in the first game as she laid down her intentions early on, but Collins fought back in game four to level up at 2-2.

There were then three more breaks of serve in a row as the match swung one way and then the next, leaving Pegula at 5-3 up as the set beckoned.

The 29-year-old showed no nerves as she served it out to love to take the early lead.

There was no let up in the second set as Pegula kept her foot on her opponent’s throat, breaking to love in the first game of the set – as she had done in the opener.

The way she did it was a thing of beauty, a rasping cross-court passing shot that flew past an increasingly dejected Collins.

However the world No. 46 showed fight once more, breaking immediately back for 1-1.

From then on, however, it was one-way traffic as Pegula broke twice more to leave herself on the brink of victory at 5-1 ahead.

Collins held to make Pegula serve it out, but she did not pass up the opportunity, sealing the match with a thunderous forehand winner.

Pegula’s next opponent Giorgi beat France’s Alize Cornet to set up their meeting.

– – –