By Alan Baldwin
LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) – Wimbledon second seed and 2022 champion Elena Rybakina survived a first round scare against French debutant Lois Boisson to grind out an unconvincing 6-4 1-6 6-3 win on Tuesday.
Boisson, who enjoyed a fairytale run to the French Open semi-finals last year but was knocked out in the first round this year, was helped by an error-strewn performance by the Russian-born Kazakh ranked 152 places above her.
“It was a really difficult match, also not coming from too many wins. I had to really fight,” said the reigning Australian Open champion, who hit 13 unforced errors in the second set on Court One after 12 in the first and 10 more in the third.
“I need to improve quite a lot, but I’m happy to get another opportunity.”
The 27-year-old had looked headed for a comfortable win after the first set but Boisson, who has yet to win a match on grass, turned everything on its head in the second to leave the outcome in the balance.
Boisson took a medical timeout at 4-1 in the second set when she had treatment to her left calf and she was grimacing again after a tumble in the third when she faced three break points at 3-4 down.
The Frenchwoman saved two before Rybakina made the break and then served out for the match at 40-15.
“My serve percentage wasn’t the greatest so when she was getting good first serves in, it wasn’t easy to break her,” said Rybakina, who talked to her coaching team during the medical timeout.
“They were just trying to tell me to keep on going, bring the energy, better footwork and I’m glad I managed.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Alison Williams)
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