Tennis: Swiatek powers into French Open second round but Osaka's return ends in defeat, holder Krejcikova out too

PARIS (AFP, REUTERS) - French Open favourite Iga Swiatek breezed into the second round at Roland Garros on Monday (May 23), beating Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-0 to extend her winning run to 29 matches.

But Naomi Osaka was knocked out, 12 months after controversially quitting the tournament. The error-plagued Japanese star was defeated 7-5, 6-4 by Amanda Anisimova of the United States, serving up eight double faults and committing 29 unforced errors.

Later, Barbora Krejcikova’s title defence ended in the opening round too, as local hope Diane Parry was roared to a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory against the second-seeded Czech.

World No. 1 Swiatek has won her last five tournaments and is bidding for a second French Open in three attempts.

"Today was a pretty good match," said Swiatek, who needed just 54 minutes to advance under the roof on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"I love playing here even though the last couple of days it's been raining and pretty dark."

The 2020 champion will play Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska or American Alison Riske for a spot in the last 32.

Swiatek is unbeaten since February and has the longest winning streak on the WTA tour since Serena Williams won 34 matches in a row in 2013.

"I'm pretty sure that it can end, but I just want to keep going. I'm sure someday my streak will stop.

"I'm just focusing on tennis and playing my game, not on stats or some numbers."

Former world No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka withdrew from Roland Garros in 2021 when she refused to honour mandatory media commitments before revealing she had been suffering from depression.

She was fined and threatened with a Grand Slam ban for her opposition to news conferences which she likened to "kicking people when they're down".

"It's tough to see Naomi Osaka in the first round so I knew it wouldn't be easy," said 27th-seeded Anisimova. "I knew I had to play my best tennis and the conditions were not easy."

On a cold, damp day on Court Suzanne Lenglen, there were four breaks of serve in the first six games. Osaka, who has never made it past the third round in Paris, led briefly for 5-4 but was broken for the third time in the 11th game on the back of her fourth double fault.

Anisimova, the 27th seed who ended Osaka's Australian Open title defence in January, served it out to love as the Japanese star was left to rue her 17 unforced errors in the opener.

Osaka, with her left ankle taped to protect an injury which forced her to sit out the Italian Open, was broken again in the seventh game of the second set. Anisimova, who made the semi-finals in 2019, secured victory on a third match point with a sharp forehand down the line.

Krejcikova, who defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the 2021 final to win her maiden Grand Slam title, arrived at Roland Garros without any competitive matches under her belt since February due to an elbow injury.

But she breezed through the opening set against the 97th-ranked Parry, who was facing a top-10 opponent for the first time in her career, in 34 minutes before her rustiness showed.

The 19-year-old Parry turned the match on its head by winning the second set as errors and double faults began to creep into Krejcikova’s game.

Krejcikova took a lengthy break after losing the second set and was booed by the partisan French crowd at the Court Philippe Chatrier on her return.

The 26-year-old Czech got an early break in the deciding set but Parry, urged on by the crowd, levelled things at 2-2 and then got the decisive break in the eighth game.

Krejcikova found the net on match point for her 45th unforced error as Parry completed a remarkable victory with the crowd chanting ‘Parry, Parry’ throughout the contest.

“It’s a dream for me. It was always a dream to play on this court with the French crowd to support me,” Parry said during an interview on court.

“They clearly pushed me to victory today. I’m the happiest person right now. It’s never easy to start on this kind of court against the defending champion, you can get a bit tight, which happened in the first set but then I managed to relax.”

She will play Colombian Camila Osorio for a place in the third round.

In the men's draw, defending champion Novak Djokovic and 13-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal start their Roland Garros campaigns later on a star-studded Monday.

Djokovic plays Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in the first of 10 night sessions - introduced at Roland Garros last year when a pandemic curfew saw most late matches played in front of empty stands.

It is the world No. 1's first Grand Slam match since his high-profile deportation from Melbourne before the Australian Open.

He won his first title of the year at the Italian Open earlier this month. "I feel I am always in that contention to fight for any Grand Slam trophy," said Djokovic, who is seeded to meet Nadal in the quarter-finals and Spanish teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the last four.

His last match at a Slam was his loss to Daniil Medvedev in last year's US Open final, a defeat which denied the Serb a calendar Grand Slam.

Nadal has yet to win a title on his beloved clay this season, but played down concerns over the chronic foot issue that resurfaced in Rome.

"There is nothing to recover," said Nadal, who faces Australia's Jordan Thompson. "What happened in Rome is something that happened very often in my practices.

"I was suffering after that for a couple of days, but I feel better. That's why I'm here."

Nadal began the year with a 20-match winning run, capturing a second Australian Open title to claim a record 21st Grand Slam and move ahead of Djokovic and Roger Federer.

The 35-year-old's record at the French Open stands at a staggering 105 wins and just three losses since his 2005 title-winning debut.

Djokovic has been responsible for two of those defeats. One came in the bruising semi-final 12 months ago, the most recent clash of the pair's epic 58-match rivalry.

Reigning women's champion Barbora Krejcikova will play France's Diane Parry in round one. The Czech world No. 2 has been sidelined by an arm injury since late February and is yet to play on clay this year.