Opening day of the 2025 French Open at Roland Garros delivered a mix of dominant wins from title favorites and heartfelt farewells from tennis legends, as unforgiving 32-degree heat tested even the fittest competitors across the Parisian clay courts.
Four-time champion Iga Swiatek, the tournament’s third seed, kicked off her campaign for a fifth Roland Garros crown in commanding form, easing past 19-year-old Australian qualifier Emerson Jones in just 60 minutes with a 6-1, 6-2 victory. The match marked Swiatek’s first Grand Slam appearance since pairing up with Francisco Roig, former long-time coach of 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, a partnership that already appears to be paying dividends. The Pole, who claimed three consecutive French Open titles from 2022 to 2024 before falling to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s semi-finals, will next face Czech prospect Sara Bejlek for a spot in the round of 32. Fresh off a semi-final run at the Italian Open earlier this month that signaled a return to peak form, Swiatek expressed confidence in her opening performance after the match.
“I’m really happy with the way I played. It was a solid match from the beginning to the end. I technically knew how to play,” the 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 champion said.
Second seed Elena Rybakina, who already lifted the Australian Open trophy earlier this 2025 season, matched Swiatek’s straightforward win, dismissing Slovenian Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-2 on the iconic Court Philippe Chatrier. The Kazakhstani star echoed Swiatek’s relief at wrapping up the match quickly in the sweltering conditions, noting that the extreme heat made short, efficient runs through the draw a top priority. “It’s tough conditions but I’m happy things worked, and I’m looking forward to the next match,” Rybakina said, ahead of her second-round clash against Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva.
Other women’s singles winners on opening day included Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who survived a dramatic three-set scare against Hungary’s Anna Bondar to keep her unbroken 13-year first-round win streak at Roland Garros intact. After dropping the opening set and trailing 3-1 in the deciding set, Svitolina rallied to secure a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(10-3) win, just weeks after claiming her long-awaited fifth WTA 1000 title in Rome. Former tournament runner-up Jasmine Paolini also advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, while sixth seed Amanda Anisimova, last year’s runner-up at both Wimbledon and the US Open, beat French wildcard Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-3, 6-1. In one of the day’s biggest upsets, 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen of China suffered a shock first-round exit, falling 6-4, 6-0 to Poland’s Maja Chwalinska — marking Zheng’s first ever opening-round defeat at the French Open.
The most emotional moments of the day belonged to the departing legends of the sport, who said goodbye to Roland Garros ahead of their planned retirements at the end of the 2025 season. 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, 41, brought an end to his Paris run with a four-set 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong, bowing out in front of a packed, cheering crowd on Court Simonne Mathieu. Wawrinka, who notched one of the most iconic upsets in Grand Slam history when he defeated Novak Djokovic to claim his only French Open title 10 years ago, enjoyed a fairytale run to the third round at January’s Australian Open in his final campaign, but could not replicate that form in the Paris heat.
After the match, tournament organizers honored Wawrinka’s legendary career with a glass case holding a fragment of Roland Garros clay, followed by two video tributes screened across the venue’s big screens. The second tribute included personal messages from the sport’s all-time greats: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. “Thanks to all your support, I wanted to go on as long as possible, to 41 years of age, to continue living moments like this,” Wawrinka told the crowd.
French home favorite Gael Monfils, 39, also played his final opening round at Roland Garros on Monday night, producing a rousing comeback from two sets down before fatigue got the better of him in the deciding set. The former tournament semi-finalist fell 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-0 to fellow French wildcard Hugo Gaston, closing out his Roland Garros career in front of his home crowd.
In men’s opening round action, two-time Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud narrowly avoided a major upset against Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin, surviving a five-set thriller that was severely impacted by the day’s high temperatures. Both players called for medical time-outs in the fourth set, and took more than 16 minutes to return to court for the deciding set, with rallies slowing to a walk as fatigue set in. Ruud ultimately found enough energy to secure a 6-2, 7-6(7-5), 5-7, 0-6, 6-2 win, as Safiullin continued to wilt in the evening heat. Teenage Spanish rising star Rafael Jodar, who has rapidly climbed the ATP rankings this season after clay-court title runs and deep runs at the Barcelona, Madrid and Rome Open events, notched a straight-set win on debut, dismantling American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-1, 6-0, 6-4. Fifth seed Ben Shelton, who has reached at least the quarter-finals at the other three Grand Slams already in his young career, kicked off his Paris campaign with a straight-set win over Daniel Merida.