Serena Williams won her French Open first round match against Vitalia Diatchenko, despite an initial scare when the Russian won the opening set, to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, making it a perfect start for her new ‘zebra’ design outfit.
READ MORE: Catsuit out, zebra print in: Will Serena Williams’ outfit shock at Roland Garros again?
Williams, 37, had made headlines before even opening her account at Roland Garros by introducing her new zebra-print outfit deigned by Nike which followed her all-black body hugging costume for last year’s Grand Slam tournament.
The choice of attire split opinion among fans, who couldn’t make their minds up whether it was an improvement on last year’s ‘catsuit’. After the win, many fans seemed to approve of the bold garment.
Serena debuted her outfit against Russian world number 71 Vitalia Diatchenko on Philippe-Chatrier in Monday’s round of 128, and it looked to have brought her no luck at all as she lost the first set 6-2, looking visibly annoyed at her performance on the clay court, and prompting many observers to believe she was ill prepared for the tournament.
However, after an initial wobble, the world number 10 seemed to find her rhythm and then raced to a comfortable win, dropping only one game on her way to wrapping up the next two sets, and depriving Diatchenko of her maiden win over a Top 10 opponent.
Serena now goes on to face either Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic or Kurumi Nara from Japan, who also play Monday, in the round of 64. For Diatchenko, despite her heroics in the opening set, she crashes out of the French Open, failing to improve on her career-best 2nd round finish at the tournament.