PARIS, France - Different ends of the career spectrum will be represented among the qualifiers when tournament play gets underway at Roland Garros on Sunday, as 12 women booked their spots in the main draw of the second Grand Slam of the season.
Leading the charge is 38-year-old former champion Francesca Schiavone, who rolled back the years with a vintage performance to defeat No.10 seed Evgeniya Rodina, 6-0, 6-1 and book her 19th appearance in the main draw in Paris.
Elsewhere, four women confirmed they'd feature in the main draw of a major for the very first time.
Schiavone's compatriot, 21-year-old Deborah Chiesa, opened the day's play with an upset No.3 seed Arantxa Rus, 7-6(5), 6-2 to become the first woman to qualify, and she was followed into the main draw by fellow unseeded players Georgina García Pérez and Barbora Kerjcikova.
García Pérez came from 3-1 down in the opening set to stop the run of French wildcard Harmony Tan, 6-3, 6-1, while Krejcikova also lost just four games in defeating Veronika Kudermetova, 6-2, 6-2.
No.17 seeded American teenager Caroline Dolehide rounded out the quartet who will make her Grand Slam main draw debut, by virtue of a 6-4, 6-3 win over Romanian Irina Bara, while No.22 seed Richel Hogenkamp will play in her fifth consecutive Grand Slam main draw thanks to a 6-3, 7-6(9) win over Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu.
Dolehide's compatriot Grace Min was one of six players to win in three sets in the final round of qualifying, as she came from a set down to defeat Italy's Martina Trevisan, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Joining her in rallying from a one-set deficit were No.2 seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden, No.6 seed Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland and Poland's Magdalena Frech, who took out Ysaline Bonaventure, Anna Kalinskaya and Rebecca Sramkova, respectively.
Two dramatic third-set comebacks rounded out the qualifying action, beginning with Colombia's Mariana Duque-Mariño, who reached the third round a year ago. The Colombian rallied from a 5-2 final set deficit to defeat Slovenian's Dalila Jakupovic, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
In the fading Parisian light, former World No.26 Alexandra Dulgheru clinched the last qualifying spot in the main draw with a nearly-identical comeback, as she battled through a rain delay for her third three-set win in three qualifying matches.
The Romanian led Tamara Korpatsch 6-1, 4-2, but needed to come back from a 5-2 final set deficit, and save match point in the tiebreak, to secure a wild 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(7) win.
