While the name Maria Kirilenko may not sound familiar to casual sports fans, she is linked with one of Washington's most recognizable stars. She is the girlfriend of Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin. Currently, Kirilenko is the No. 16 seed in the women's singles tournament at the French Open, and in her first round match at Roland Garros in the French Open, she defeated Frenchwoman Victoria Larriere in straight sets Tuesday, winning 6-1, 6-2.
Kirilenko moves onto the second round to face Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Lesia Tsurenko in her opening match. Other notable winners on the women's side of the tournament include No. 2 Maria Sharapova, who swept her first round opponent Alexandra Cadantu, 6-0, 6-0. Other first round winners include No. 4 Petra Kvitova, No. 14 Francesca Schiavone, No. 22 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No. 23 Kaia Kanepi.
On the men's side of the tournament, No. 2 Rafael Nadal began his run towards a seventh French Open title by defeating Simone Bolelli in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. Other notable first round winners include No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 12 Nicolas Almagro, No. 13 Juan Monaco, No. 17 Richard Gasquet, No. 27 Mikhail Youzhny No. 29 Julien Benneteau and No. 32 Florian Mayer.
No. 16 Alexandr Dolgopolov lost his first round match in a five-set thriller against Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3.
You can see a complete scoreboard from the 2012 French Open here.
For more on the 2012 French Open, keep it tuned to this StoryStream and the SB Nation Tennis Hub.