Roland Garros | Krejcikova and Osaka eliminated, Swiatek advances to second round

(Paris) Barbora Krejcikova arrived at Roland-Garros as the reigning singles and doubles champion. She was also coming back from a three-month absence from the tour with a right elbow injury, so her own expectations were rather modest.

The Czech was right to be worried. On Monday, she became the third player of the professional era to suffer elimination in the first round at Roland-Garros a year after winning the title.

The second-seeded Krejcikova got off to a great start, however, before everything fell apart to lose 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 to Diane Parry, a 19-year-old Frenchwoman who occupies the 97^and world rank and started the day with a career-best 1-5 Grand Slam.

Parry received enthusiastic support from spectators who backed her onto the Philippe Chatrier court, where the noise echoed under the retractable roof closed due to rain.

” It’s a dream for me. It was always a dream to play on this court, with the French public supporting me. They definitely pushed me to victory today, admitted Parry. I am the happiest person right now. »

It was Krejcikova’s first game since February and it showed.

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.

Since the beginning of the professional era in 1968, Krejcikova is only the seventh reigning women’s champion to be eliminated in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament.

Against Parry, Krejcikova double faulted on the very first point of the match and then looked ready to show her best tennis. The next 15 points in a row benefited Krejcikova as she took a 4-0 lead.

“It’s never easy to start on this kind of ground against the defending champion,” added Parry. You can be a little tense, which was the case in the first run. But then I managed to relax. »

After Krejcikova got her hands on the first set, things turned around as Parry played with more confidence.

Krejcikova’s errors multiplied: by the end, she had accumulated 45 unforced errors, 19 in the third set alone. Parry finished the game with 26 overall.

Swiatek continues his streak

Earlier in the day, favorite Iga Swiatek offered herself a 29^and straight win and advance to the second round. The return of the Japanese Naomi Osaka to the Parisian tournament was cut short.

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.

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.

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, 74^and World Cup, beat Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska 6-3, 6-1.