PARIS (AP) — It was a massive mismatch on paper and that’s the way it ended up on court, too.
Four-time champion Iga Swiatek required exactly one hour to eliminate 136th-ranked French Open debutante Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2 in the first round on Monday, in front of a mostly empty Court Philippe-Chatrier on another steamy day in Paris.
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Jasmine Paolini of Italy celebrates during the first round women's singles tennis match against Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Emerson Jones of Australia falls down as she plays against Iga Swiatek of Poland during their first round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Poland's Iga Swiatek gestures for a ballboy as he shields her from the sun during a break at the first round women's singles tennis match against Emerson Jones of Australia at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates winning against Emerson Jones of Australia during their first round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Iga Swiatek of Poland returns to Emerson Jones of Australia during their first round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
The only real issue for the third-ranked Swiatek came when she needed a trainer to re-tape the middle finger on her tennis-playing right hand for an apparent blister after the first set.
“I’m just really happy to play on this court,” she said. “First matches are always also for getting used to the condition tactically and type of the ball.”
Swiatek has not won a title on clay this season and recently made a coaching change. She hired Francisco Roig, who previously worked with record 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.
“Nothing comes easy,” Swiatek said. “With more titles it’s even a bit harder because everyone expects you to be ready always and play perfectly. So you need to stay humble and not take anything for granted and work your way from the beginning of the tournament.”
She improved to 28-1 in first-round matches at Grand Slams.
With the temperature due to rise to 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit), Swiatek did well to make short work of her 17-year-old Australian opponent, who received a wild-card invitation from Roland Garros organizers.
Also advancing was Jasmine Paolini, who lost the 2024 final to Swiatek. The Italian beat Dayana Yastremska 7-5, 6-3.
In men’s action, eighth-seeded Alex De Minaur defeated Toby Samuel 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Later, 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka and the popular Gael Monfils are in action in their final French Open before both players retire at the end of the year.
The 41-year-old Wawrinka takes on qualifier Jesper de Jong, who took the spot of Arthur Fils after the top French player withdrew due to a hip issue.
Monfils plays fellow Frenchman Hugo Gaston in the night session.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Jasmine Paolini of Italy celebrates during the first round women's singles tennis match against Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Emerson Jones of Australia falls down as she plays against Iga Swiatek of Poland during their first round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Poland's Iga Swiatek gestures for a ballboy as he shields her from the sun during a break at the first round women's singles tennis match against Emerson Jones of Australia at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates winning against Emerson Jones of Australia during their first round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Iga Swiatek of Poland returns to Emerson Jones of Australia during their first round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus' exiled opposition leader visited Kyiv on Monday as the Ukrainian capital cleaned up after Russia’s biggest missile attack of the year, and world leaders kept a close eye on how much support the Belarusian government is ready to provide for Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.
Russia and its ally Belarus held joint nuclear drills last week, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has increasingly warned in recent days that Belarus could provide a launchpad for Russia to open a new front in northern Ukraine. Some Russia troops entered Ukraine from Belarusian territory in Moscow's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
In a further sign that concerns about any Belarusian role are increasing, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday, their first call since the all-out war began.
With that conflict more than four years old, the Russian army is locked in a hard and costly slog on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line that mostly snakes through eastern and southern Ukraine.
“Russia hit a dead-end on the battlefield, so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centers,” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said in a post on X, in the wake of the weekend barrage that killed two people and damaged buildings across the Ukrainian capital.
With American-made air defense missiles in short supply because of the Iran war, Russian missiles are harder for Ukraine to stop. Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to stop the fighting made little progress and have now stalled.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who arrived by train for her first visit to Kyiv on Monday, said that France wants to send a warning to Belarus.
“The main goal — to warn Lukashenko that dragging Belarus into the war would be unacceptable,” Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press on Sunday.
“Lukashenko’s regime knows well what needs to be done to improve ties with the European Union, but it isn’t happening, instead hybrid attacks, nuclear blackmail and threats to the entire region continue,” she said.
Lukashenko, who has governed Belarus with an iron fist for more than three decades, relies on the Kremlin for cheap energy, loans and other support.
In the call, Macron “underscored the risks for Belarus of allowing itself to be dragged into Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” according to a presidential aide in the French leader's office who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the presidential palace’s practices.
Macron also spoke Sunday with Zelenskyy.
A terse readout released by the Belarusian presidential press service said that the call took place “on the French side’s initiative” and that the two leaders discussed “regional issues” and the relations of Belarus with the European Union and France.
Sunday’s heavy bombardment included Russia’s powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile, which can carry multiple warheads. Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted it can travel up to 10 times the speed of sound and evade air defense systems.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence services had received tipoffs from the United States and European countries that Russia was preparing to launch an Oreshnik.
In addition to the two deaths, at least 87 people were wounded in Kyiv, including three children, in the barrage, Zelenskyy said Monday. Twenty-one people were hospitalized.
The intense assault damaged buildings across the city, including near government offices, residential buildings, schools and a market, Ukrainian authorities said. Shattered glass still littered sidewalks on Monday.
“Every such strike only demonstrates yet again the true nature of Putin’s regime — the regime that doesn’t recognize human life, international law, or borders,” Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader in exile, wrote on Telegram after witnessing the attack's aftermath in Kyiv.
In other developments Monday:
Russia’s Federal Security Service said that divers found magnetic mines attached to the hull of a liquefied petroleum gas tanker in the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga. The tanker Arrhenius was bound for Samsun, Turkey, it said, adding that the limpet mines were made in a NATO member country. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile hit a business in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Derhachi, killing two people and wounding 19 others Monday, Kharkiv regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said. Seventeen people were hospitalized.
Associated Press writer John Leicester contributed to this report from Paris.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian servicemen of the Cerberus Ground Unmanned Systems Company of the 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Third Army Corps, conduct a drill with a combat ground drone during a training at the polygon in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Ukrainian servicemen of the Cerberus Ground Unmanned Systems Company of the 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Third Army Corps, conduct a drill with a combat ground drone during a training at the polygon in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Rescue workers try to put out a fire at a residential building after a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Red Cross volunteers help an injured woman in a shelter after a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
