Tennis: Turkish female player reaches 2nd round in Paris

ANKARA

Cagla Buyukakcay has become the first Turkish female tennis player in the Open era to reach the second round of a Grand Slam, after beating her opponent two sets to one in the French Open in Paris late Monday.

Buyukakcay fought back from a set down to beat Belarus's Aliaksandra Sasnovich 5-7, 7-6 and 6-2 in the first round of Roland Garros.

The 26-year-old Adana native, 83rd overall in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking, had taken on Czech Klara Koukalova on Friday, in the third round of the French Open qualifying matches, becoming the first Turkish woman to qualify for the event.

Buyukakcay won her first WTA title in Istanbul last month.

She will take on the 24th seed, Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, on Wednesday.