French Open Juniors: Maaya Rajeshwaran and Arnav Paparkar advance in Roland Garros; Face tough opponents in second round

PARIS: Indian juniors Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi and Arnav Paparkar charted contrasting paths into the second round of the Roland Garros junior girls’ and boys’ draws. After a punishing week of heatwave conditions that left Paris gasping, Sunday’s chill and early-evening drizzle offered a different kind of examination, one both teenagers negotiated with composure to move through.Maaya, the 16-year-old from Coimbatore, who trains in Spain, endured frequent moment shifts to score a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 win over China’s Yihan Qu in just under two-hours.Paparkar, 18, from Pune, who also trains in Spain, came through 7-6 (4), 6-4 against German Vincent Jakob Reisach.Maaya (28) and Paparkar (31) are higher ranked than their opponents.Maaya wasn’t bothered by the change in conditions. “It didn't make a huge difference, because the rain was on and off, and it was the same for both players,” she said, adding, “we were into the match, trying to fight it out. That's what helped me get out of that situation.”Maaya, who has an impressive singles clay court win-loss record among juniors this season 15-5, trailed 1-3 in the opening set, but won five of the next six games. In the second set it all went Qu’s way, but in the decider the Indian opened up a big lead.“I went into the match prepared, I knew she is good and pretty unpredictable,” she said. “I knew that I'll have to keep up the same level.”Next up for Maaya is Mariia Majarova, the 16-year-old Russian, seeded eight.Paparkar, 6 ft 1’, who is playing his last couple of junior events, was pleased with his play.“I was down a break and he was also serving for the first set,” he said, “I broke him and took it to the tie-break. In the second set, I was more comfortable because I knew what I had to do against him. Also, it was getting cold and I’m not used to it being this cold.”Paparkar will play Kuan-Shou Chen of Chinese Taipei, the 15th seed, in the second round.In the boys doubles, Paparkar and Thailand’s Kunanan Pantaratorn take on Briton’s Mark Ceban and Russia’s Kirill Filaretov in the first round.In the mixed doubles, Yuki Bhambri and Russia’s Alexandra Panova went down 1-6, 3-6 to American Desirae Krawczyk and Briton Neal Skupski.