Errani comes back from the brink, Mboko wins in Roland Garros qualifying

When Sara Errani played her first professional tournament in April 2002, 47 of the competitors in this year's Roland Garros qualifying draw had yet to be born.

Nonetheless, at the age of 38, two days removed from lifting the Internazionali BNL d'Italia doubles trophy alongside Jasmine Paolini and 13 years removed from her appearance in the Roland Garros final, the Italian proved that she's still got it. Errani came back from the brink to defeat Jule Niemeier 0-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, having trailed 5-2 in the second set.

The match was a microcosm of her career. Seemingly down and out, overpowered by a stronger and taller opponent, Errani used her heart, brains and sheer grit to turn an apparent lost cause into a glorious victory -- as she's done so often over the past two decades. In the second-set tiebreak, Niemeier hammered overhead after overhead at Errani, but it was the veteran who won that point with a clean winner. Next up, she'll face Niemeier's German compatriot, Anna-Lena Friedsam, who held off a late comeback attempt by 16-year-old wild card Ksenia Efremova 6-1, 7-5.

Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko has had a sensational season so far -- five ITF trophies, a final at the Parma WTA 125 and eye-catching performances in Miami and Rome, where she stretched Paula Badosa and Coco Gauff to three sets. The 18-year-old, at a career high of No. 122 and playing the first Grand Slam qualifying event of her career, kept her momentum going with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Sinja Kraus. Next up is Liechtenstein's Kathinka Von Deichmann, who routed No. 7 seed Rebecca Marino 6-1, 6-0.

Other notable Day 2 qualifying wins

• Wild card Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard, the 16-year-old sister of ATP No. 32 Giovanni, scored the biggest upset of the tournament so far by defeating No. 199-ranked Gabriela Knutson 6-4, 6-3. Mpetshi Perricard had never previously beaten an opponent in the Top 400, her best professional showing to date was a quarterfinal run in a Monastir ITF W15 and she is ranked No. 1,221;
• The youngest player in the draw, unranked 15-year-old wild card Cindy Langlais, could not join Mpetshi Perricard in Round 2 -- but the French teenager nonetheless delivered a head-turning performance, stretching No. 20 seed Maja Chwalinska in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 loss;
• Zhang Shuai and Storm Hunter are more used to meeting on the doubles court, where their head-to-head is three wins apiece. But they were drawn against each other in the first round of qualifying here, and No. 30 seed Zhang came away with a 6-3, 6-2 win. Hunter is playing the third tournament of her comeback from an ACL injury that sidelined her for over 12 months. Coincidentally, their only previous singles meeting was also on French clay -- Zhang won that too, in 2020 Strasbourg qualifying;
• Twenty-year-olds Linda Klimovicova and Linda Fruhvirtova grew up together as Czech juniors -- Fruhvirtova won their only junior meeting, in the 2021 Roehampton final, and soared ahead in the pros to crack the Top 50 at the age of 17. But in their first pro encounter, Klimovicova -- who now represents Poland -- turned the tables with a 6-4, 6-4 win, her first at Grand Slam qualifying level;

• No. 223-ranked Justina Mikulskyte made some history with her 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Ekaterina Makarova. The 29-year-old's first Grand Slam qualifying victory was also the first win by a Lithuanian woman in major qualifying since the 2009 US Open, when Lina Stanciute reached the second round. Mikulskyte will have the opportunity to score a national record by reaching the final round when she next faces ...
• ... Anouk Koevermans, the 21-year-old Dutchwoman who won the longest match of Day 2 to upset No. 8 seed Anastasia Zakharova 6-7(6), 7-5, 7-6[9] in 3 hours and 27 minutes. Koevermans lost the first set from 4-2 up but won the decider from 2-0 down, saving one match point in the super-tiebreak to notch her first Grand Slam qualifying victory;
• Day 2's other super-tiebreak also delivered a first Grand Slam qualifying win -- to Spain's Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales, who edged Barbora Palicova 4-6, 6-2, 7-6[3] in 2 hours and 31 minutes;
• No. 6 seed Taylor Townsend suffered a concussion during a Miami doubles match in March, and had been sidelined since. The American returned to action with a clutch 7-6(1), 7-6(6) win over Japanese 18-year-old Sara Saito. Townsend trailed 4-1 in the first set, then had to save two set points in the second-set tiebreak;
• No. 22 seed Francesca Jones, the Prague ITF W75 champion two weeks ago, extended her winning streak to six matches with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Bogota quarterfinalist Lea Boskovic;
• Bogota finalist Katarzyna Kawa also advanced, defeating France's Tessah Andrianjafitrimo 6-4, 6-3.