The only female from the Arab world participating in Roland Garros championship in Paris, Sandra Samir, advanced to the second round.

The 15-year-old Egyptian reigning African junior champion defeated Ukraine’s Helen Ploskina 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday.

"She’s unbelievable, I was told that she will bring back every single ball but I never imagined it would be to that extent," Samir told Sport360 of her opponent after the match.

"I was hitting the ball really hard and attacking, but she has control and she has the legs to back it up. And she makes almost zero mistakes.

"However I’ve been working very hard on stepping inside the court during practice and taking the ball early. And I find it very stupid to work so hard on something for three, four months and not use it during a match when you’re really supposed to. That’s why I didn’t give up."

In the boys' competition, the other Egyptian participant, Mazen Osama, was defeated to eighth-seeded Borna Coric in 69 minutes.

"It was a tough first round, I was playing the world No8 and couldn’t find my rhythm," said Osama, who still has a shot at redemption in doubles today.

"My goal is to end the year ranked in the top-10 of the junior world rankings. I was ranked as high as 24 before but my ranking dropped a bit because I’ve been playing some Futures on the men’s circuit. But hopefully I’ll reach the top-10 soon."

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