PARIS —
Rafael Nadal kicked off his quest for a 14th
French Open title with a straight-sets win over Jordan Thompson, but former
world number one Naomi Osaka and defending champion Barbora Krejcikova tumbled
out in the first round Monday.
اضافة اعلان
Nadal, on a
quarter-final collision course with
Novak Djokovic, brushed Australia’s
Thompson aside 6–2, 6–2, 6–2 to improve his Roland Garros record to 106 wins
and just three losses since his 2005 title-winning debut.
“I’m very happy
with the victory today. I’m happy to get through in three sets,” said Nadal,
seeded fifth.
“It’s a first
round, a positive match for me. Straight sets but with significant room for
improvement.”
The Spaniard, who
last week downplayed concerns over the recurrence of a foot injury that plagued
him in Rome, meets Corentin Moutet in round two after the French wildcard
defeated 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka.
Osaka, the
unseeded four-time
Grand Slam winner, was knocked out earlier in the day 7–5,
6–4 by Amanda Anisimova — the same player who ended the Japanese star’s title
defense at the Australian Open this year.
Osaka served
eight double faults and committed 29 unforced errors on her return to
Roland Garros, after withdrawing in 2021 when she refused to honor mandatory media
commitments before revealing she had been suffering from depression.
“I thought I
tried really hard, and I just feel like it was a bit unfortunate because I
wasn’t able to play as many matches leading into this tournament,” said Osaka.
Anisimova, the
27th seed, reached the semi-finals in Paris three years ago.
“It’s tough to
see
Naomi Osaka in the first round so I knew it wouldn’t be easy,” said the
American.
“I knew I had to
play my best tennis and the conditions were not easy.”
As the rain
stopped play on the outside courts for two hours, Krejcikova followed Osaka
through the exit door, going down 1–6, 6–2, 6–3 to 19-year-old Frenchwoman
Diane Parry in her first match since February following injury.
The Czech world
number two had yet to play on clay this season after being sidelined by an
elbow problem.
“I just think I
just collapsed physically, and, I mean, it was tough because I didn’t play the
matches,” said Krejcikova, who is set to drop out of the top 10.
Swiatek backs up
favorite tag
Iga Swiatek, the
favorite for the women’s title, stretched her winning streak to 29 matches by
dispatching Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko 6–2, 6–0 in 54 minutes.
The 20-year-old
Swiatek, who took over as world number one following Ashleigh Barty’s shock
retirement, 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.
“I love playing
here even though the last couple of days it’s been raining and pretty dark.”
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.”
Djokovic launches
his title defence against 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
number one’s first Grand Slam match since his high-profile deportation from Australia.
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.
The Serb’s last match at
a major was his loss to
Daniil Medvedev in last year’s US Open final, a defeat
which denied Djokovic a calendar Grand Slam.
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