It drew consecutive breaks of serve to which Raducanu, whose body language was noticeably subdued after the second, appeared to have little answer as she lost the set 6-1 and could easily have suffered an ignominious bagel. Once again the Belarusian applied early pressure to the Raducanu serve, climbing into powerful returns and employing deft touch on the drop shot when required. She broke again at 5-3 to seal the set and ensure she would serve first in the second, but it was of limited advantage. Katerina Siniakova, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-2. Leylah Annie Fernandez (17), Canada, def.Karolina Muchova, Czech Republic, def.Alison van Uytvanck, Belgium, 6-1, 7-6 (4). Amanda Anisimova (27), United States, def.Marie Bouzkova, Czech Republic, walkover. Raducanu, still a novice at the elite level on clay, battled hard to stay with her and produced two identikit crosscourt backhand winners, both of which cleaned the line, to bring up break points of her own at 2-2 and then constructed a fine point at 15-40, pushing Sasnovich back before pulling the trigger on a forehand down the line to draw first blood. She forced Raducanu to save break points in just her second service game which lasted more than 10 minutes and only let her off the hook when misjudging a mid-court ball. However, her 28-year-old opponent started confidently, with no apparent scars of the previous second-round losses: she had come this far four times in her last five appearances in Paris and lost each time. Sasnovich had never beaten a player ranked as high as Raducanu, who started the week at Roland Garros ranked 12 in the world and will probably broach the top 10 for the first time after the French Open despite only making the second round. “I just look at everything as a lesson, and I know exactly where I went wrong, where I can improve, where other people are better than me.”

It’s different when you are someone who may have a target on their back. She added: “I think some parts of my tennis game have actually improved compared to last year.

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