Sabalenka has been playing pretty solid tennis on clay this year though her track record at
Roland Garros was never been that great which makes these wins important.
She faced compatriot Shymanovich and for the most part, controlled the match well but it took her time to find solutions in this match. Both players were pretty solid on their serve with Shymanovich holding well. Sabalenka did take a 4-2 lead in the opening set but she allowed her compatriot to battle back and make her even more.
Eventually, Sabalenka was able to find solutions and take the opening set 7-5 thanks to some timely shot-making. It wasn't a spectacular set by either as both struggled to keep the ball in play with Sabalenka having 17 unforced errors. That was quite shaky from her but she did better in the second set.
The second set was better from Sabalenka as she managed to control the ball much better. She didn't post 17 unforced errors again having only 6 and she had 12 winners which is in part to what she had in the opening set. It was just a much bigger improvement of her play though her opponent also didn't hold up as well as she did.
Overall a good win for the Belarusian as she got it done in two sets and didn't complicate things too much. This should give her more confidence moving forward.