French Open 2018: Simona Halep beats Alison Riske to reach second round

Romania's Simona Halep was a beaten finalist in both the 2014 and 2017 French OpenWorld number one Simona Halep began her bid for a first Grand Slam title with a gutsy fightback in her rain-delayed French Open first-round match.

Halep, last year's runner-up, lost the first set before recovering to win 2-6 6-1 6-1 against American Alison Riske.

Ukraine's fourth seed Elina Svitolina reached the third round with a 6-3 6-4 win over Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, seeded eighth, also beat Spain's Lara Arruabarrena 6-0 6-4.

Halep overcomes slow start

Two-time French Open finalist Halep has spent much of the past seven months as the world's leading female player,…