Indoor stars Sabalenka, Rybakina beat the rain in Paris

Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, the pair who perhaps offer the biggest threat to Iga Swiatek’s reign as French Open champion, have both enjoyed the luxury of an uninterrupted schedule to ease past the latest hurdles in their Roland Garros quest.

Australian Open champ Sabalenka was in rampant mood under the main Court Philippe Chatrier Court roof on Thursday, dismissing Japanese qualifier Moyuka Uchijima 6-2 6-2 in two minutes over an hour.

Meanwhile on the newly-roofed Suzanne Lenglen, the 2022 Wimbledon champ Rybakina took only five minutes longer in dispatching Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 6-3 6-4 to also make the third round.

Getting the chance for routine victories on protected showcourts felt like a clear advantage for second seed Sabalenka and fourth seed Rybakina as other contenders on outside courts were enduring more stop-start frustration with the incessant drizzly rain prompting two more interruptions.

“That’s the little advantage we get as top players because we play in the big stadiums with the roof. So I knew that no matter what the weather is going to be, I’m going to play my match. That’s really helpful,” Sabalenka said.

“It helps to manage the energy because it’s really tough when the weather is like that and you play on the outside courts. It just feels like you’re wasting your energy during the day going on and off the court. That’s really tough.”

Sabalenka’s power game was simply too much for Japanese No.1 Uchijima, playing in the second round of a grand slam for the first time, as she started off winning six points in a row and was never remotely threatened.

The loser’s only consolation was that she fared marginally better than the Belarusian’s first-round victim Erika Andreeva, who only managed to exticate three games from her.

It should get harder as Sabalanka next faces one of two former quarter-finalists — Spain’s Paula Badosa, who beat Alex de Minaur’s British girlfriend Katie Boulter in the first round, or feisty Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.

But it’s hard to envisage anything other than a semi-final meeting in Paris for Sabalenka against her old rival Rybakina, who she beat in last year’s Australian Open final.

Rybakina wasn’t as dominant in her match, and actually found herself 4-2 down in the second set, before the Kazakh began to really find her focus to reel off the final four games.

“No-one wants to play three sets so I was trying to focus point by point and push myself. Energy-wise I wasn’t that happy today with myself,” said Rybakina, who will play Petra Martic or Elise Mertens next.