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Jelena Ostapenko said she is trying to play “without any thoughts” after cruising into the second round with a 6-4 7-5 win over Romanian Jaqueline Cristian.
The Latvian ninth seed, who has a reputation for being hot-headed on court, has not been beyond the third round of the French Open women’s singles since winning her only major singles title at Roland Garros in 2017.
“Of course I’m more mature now, it’s a good thing and maybe it’s a bad thing a bit,” Ostapenko said.
“When I played in 2017 I was kind of fearless so I’m working to get that thing back and the most important thing is just to play without any thoughts.”
She will play Tatjana Maria of Germany or Dane Clara Tauson next.
But another former champion Barbora Krejcikova fell to a shock loss to Swiss world number 76 Viktorija Golubic.
Czech 24th seed Krejcikova, who was victorious at Roland Garros in 2021, lost 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 on Court Suzanne Lenglen as Golubic reached the second round for the first time since 2016.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, seeded 30th, came from a set down to beat Australian wildcard Ajla Tomljanovic 3-6 6-3 6-3.
French home hope and 21st seed Caroline Garcia fought back from a set down to survive a scare against German qualifier Eva Lys, winning 4-6 7-5 6-2, while Ukrainian 18th seed Marta Kostyuk also came back to beat Brazilian qualifier Laura Pigossi 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 6-4.
But Russian 29th seed Veronika Kudermetova became the first seed to fall with a 6-2 6-4 loss to Czech Marie Bouzkova.
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