West Australians Taylah Preston and Astra Sharma are through to the 2nd round of qualifying after scoring first-round qualifying wins at Roland Garros 2024.
Taylah Preston made a dream pro-level debut in Paris, powering to a 6-2 6-4 victory against Croatian Tara Wurth.
The 21-year-old Wurth lists clay as her favourite surface and won an ITF 75 tournament in Croatia last week, dropping only a single set in an impressive run.
However, the less experienced Preston had her measure in their first-round clash.
The highly touted 18-year-old from Perth fired 18 winners to 12, helping her wrap up victory in 86 minutes.
World No.137 Preston will face a fellow debutante, 18-year-old Alexandra Eala from the Philippines, in the next round.
Astra Sharma was tested early in her opening-round meeting with German Ella Seidel, however, finished strongly to run out a 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2 victor.
The 28-year-old from Perth struck six aces, including three in the deciding set, in the one-hour and 54-minute encounter.
This is world No.130 Sharma’s first win at Roland Garros since 2021, when she reached the second round as a main-draw wildcard.
Sharma next faces Hungarian Timea Babos, a former world No.25 and a two-time Roland Garros doubles champion.
Unfortanutely fellow West Aussie Talia Gibson failed to make it to the 2nd round, succumbing to Elena-Gabriela Ruse (ROU) 6-1, 6-1.
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