Daria Kasatkina has won her first Grand Slam match as an Australian, representing a trio of Aussie triumphs at the French Open overnight.

The world No. 17 defeated her Czech opponent Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. She described it as a “big honour” to play for her new country, having defected from Russia two months ago.

“The main thing is that I can live my life now freely and happy,” she said.

“With that, the [good] tennis will come.”

Veteran Ajla Tomljanović beat 19-year-old Maya Joint 6-1, 6-3, and World No. 24 Alexei Popyrin ended a six-year French Open drought when his Japanese opponent Yoshihito Nishioka retired at 7-5, 6-4, 1-2 due to a back injury.

Australians Jordan Thompson, Kim Birrell, Aleks Vukic, Chris O’Connell, and Daria Saville lost their first round matches in straight sets, adding to the green and gold wipeout on Sunday.

Thompson was also set to play doubles with Nick Kyrgios, but he revealed that Kyrgios suffered a knee injury while training in Canberra. Kyrgios is now ruled out of the tournament and the foreseeable future.

Looking ahead, Alex de Minaur will headline Australian action on Tuesday night against Croatia’s Laslo Djere, with Olivia Gadecki and two others also competing in first-round matches.

Photo: by Kate Tann found HERE and used under a Creative Commons licence. This image has been cropped.