PARIS, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Singles top seeds Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep were little tested and secured their berths in last 32 at the 2018 French Open here on Thursday.
It was a tough day for Chinese players, however, as Zhang Shuai and Peng Shuai both crashed out from women's singles second round, and three other players were dumped in doubles events.
Ten-time winner Nadal regained his supremacy on clay with a lopsided 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Guido Pella of Argentina.
"I played a solid match. It's true that during the match I improved my level," said the men's world No. 1.
As a Real Madrid fan, Nadal had some thoughts on Frenchman Zinedine Zidane's surprising decision to resign as the head coach.
"Of course it was a surprise for everybody," Nadal said. "Zidane is a top person. He's a person that is tough to accept that he's leaving for different reasons."
"For my side, I just can say thanks for all the things that he did for Madrid. I hope he will be back," he added.
Seeded players Marin Cilic, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem and John Isner also muscled their way through the second round.
Halep, in search for her maiden Grand Slam title, saw off Taylor Townsend of the United States 6-3, 6-1.
"It was really tough even if the score looked pretty easy," admitted the Romanian, adding that Townsend's balls were really tough to return because of the topspin and forehand.
Seeded players joining Halep in the third round are the 2016 winner Garbine Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams clawed back to eliminate No. 17 seed Ashleigh Barty, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, with one round to go before a possible clash with arch rival Maria Sharapova, who got past Donna Vekic 7-5, 6-4.
No. 27 seed Zhang lost to Irina-Camelia Begu, her training partner for some time, 6-3, 6-4.
Zhang lost a grueling 15-minute ninth game featuring many deuces, before conceding the first set 6-3. Then the Romanian maintained her momentum in the second set to build a 5-3 lead into her match-winning service.
Zhang displayed her resilience to save one match point from Begu before cutting the deficit to 5-4. However, Begu didn't let slip away the chance again with two match points in hand, sealing the win with a high-quality backhand.
"To be honest with you, she was much strong than me on clay. I was restrained by her in today's match," commented Zhang.
Fresh from her first victory in French Open singles matches for the past five years, Peng snapped her journey at Roland Garros following a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 loss to seventh-seeded Frenchwomen Caroline Garcia.
China's Zheng Saisai and her partner Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan bowed out from the women's doubles first round, also for Wang Yafan and Australian Monique Adamczak.
Yang Zhaoxuan lost her mixed doubles first round with Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan.
Following the exit of Zhang and Peng, Wang Qiang is the only Chinese player active in women's singles of the tournament. She will face Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in third round on Friday, hoping to refresh her personal best at Grand Slam tournaments.
Wang will also feature in doubles first round with Begu, while Duan Yingying and Yang Zhaoxuan will play their doubles second round matches.
