Brilliance at the Porte d’Auteuil. At only 19 years old, the Frenchwoman Diane Parry, 97th in the world, offered herself the defending champion, Barbora Krejcikova, in the first round of Roland-Garros, Monday, May 23. Without a solution in a first set folded in half an hour, the Francilienne rectified the situation to take the best of the seeded n°2, before winning in a third set hung after more than two hours of play ( 1-6, 6-2, 6-3).
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Faster and more powerful than Parry, Krejcikova offered herself the double break from the start, to lead four games to nothing in 13 minutes. The Frenchwoman, much too timid behind her first ball (one point out of ten won on her first ball in the first set) could only give up the first set, in just over half an hour.
The second set started like the first: with an entry break from the Czech. Things seemed to be heading for a quick victory for Krejcikova, a surprise winner last year. But that was without counting on Parry’s rage to win and his change of strategy, which paid off. Thanks to the variety of her shots, her quality of service and her length of the ball, the Frenchwoman, led two games to nothing, compiled six consecutive ones to seize the second set. The cards were reshuffled.
Carried by the Central public, on fire despite the rainy weather, the 19-year-old confirmed that she knew how to resist the pressure. Once again led by the score (2-0 0-15), Parry completely freed herself in the decisive set to push Krejcikova to her limits (45 unforced errors), give her eight successive points and pass in front of the score (3- 2). “It’s never easy to start on Center Court. We necessarily want to do well and overplay. But I finally managed to let go of my shots, to play my game, I had nothing to lose and I’m really happy with myself”explained Parry at the end of the meeting.
Breaking at the best of times (4-3), she did not let stress invade her to finally win in 2:10. “I always dreamed of being able to play on this court, in front of the French public who clearly pushed me to win this match, underlined the Niçoise. I’m the happiest.”
Big disillution on the other hand for Barbora Krejcikova. This is the third time in the Open era that the defending champion of Roland-Garros takes the door as soon as she enters the competition (after Anastasia Myskina in 2005 and Jelena Ostapenko in 2018).
For his part, Parry, who entered the top 100 in the WTA rankings earlier in May, achieved the best performance of his career. At the same time, she equals her best result at Porte d’Auteuil by qualifying for the second round (which she had reached in 2019 for her first participation), during which she will face the Colombian Camila Osorio, 66th in the world, victorious in the French guest, Harmony Tan.