(Paris) The favorite Iga Swiatek offered herself a 29and victory in a row and she advances to the second round of the Internationaux de France. The return of the Japanese Naomi Osaka to the Parisian tournament was cut short.
Posted at 7:30 a.m.
Updated at 9:09 a.m.
Barbora Krejcikova became the third defending champion to suffer first-round elimination in Paris.
The second-seeded Czech lost to world No. 97 Diane Parry 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
It was Krejcikova’s first match since February due to a right elbow injury.
PHOTOGONZALO FUENTES, REUTERS
Barbora Krejcikova
The only two other players to lose the year after winning the French Open title are Anastasia Myskina in 2005 and Jelena Ostapenko in 2018.
Swiatek, who won this tournament in 2020, defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-0 on Philippe Chatrier court.
Swiatek’s winning streak is the longest on the women’s side since Serena Williams won 34 in a row in 2013. She has won the title in her last five tournaments.
She also won a league-high 14 6-0 innings this season.
Former world No. 1 Osaka lost to Amanda Anisimova 7-6, 6-4.
PHOTO CHRISTOPHE ENA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Naomi Osaka
The four-time Grand Slam champion took two hiatus from tennis for her mental health last season. The first came when she pulled out at Roland Garros ahead of her second-round match.
Anisimova, a 20-year-old American, reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2019. She also beat Osaka in the third round of the Australian Open in January.
PHOTO PASCAL ROSSIGNOL, REUTERS
Amanda Anisimova
Osaka double faulted twice on a break point, one in each set. After the second, which gave Anisimova a 4-3 lead, Osaka led 40-0 in the next game, but the American held off.
“It was hard to play against her in the first round, especially in these difficult conditions. It’s so nice to be back here, I had an amazing time in 2019,” Anisimova commented in the on-court interview after her match before concluding with a “Thank you Paris” in French.
Osaka performed with an Achilles tendon bandage and she was visibly inconvenienced by the injury.
In another match scheduled for Monday, 19-year-old Chinese Qinwen Zheng, 74and World Cup, beat Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska 6-3, 6-1.