Paris: The French Open campaign of four-time Grand Slam champion Naoki Osaka ended in the first round on Monday as she went down to American No.27 seed Amanda Anisimova while World No. 1 and top seed Iga Swiatek progressed without breaking a sweat at the Roland Garros courts here. Swiatek needed just 54 minutes to get past her opening round opponent on Day 2 of the competition, beating Ukraine's Lesia Taurenko 6-2, 6-0 under the roof at the Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The 2020 Roland-Garros champion extended her current streak to 29 match wins in a row and is searching for a sixth consecutive title this fortnight. Tsurenko now falls to 0-7 lifetime against reigning world No.1. Things however were not so easy for Japan's Osaka as she went down to Anisimova for a second consecutive major. Osaka's Australian Open title defence earlier this year ended at the hands of Anisimova, and the four-time major champion suffered the same fate in Paris on Monday, falling 7-5, 6-4 to the big-hitting American. After a hard-fought first set, the first three games of the contest went against serve before Anisimova consolidated her advantage for a 3-1 lead.
The Japanese star broke back though, drawing level two games later and the pair remained neck and neck until Anisimova broke to edge ahead 6-5. The 20-year-old American wrapped up the set 7-5 on the 46-minute mark, said the official website of the competition,. Anisimova made her move in game seven of the second set, and despite seeing two match points slip as she was serving for the win, she fired a signature down-the-line backhand to secure her passage to round two. He will next qualifier Donna Vekic. Two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka, the No.15 seed, is down a set but up a break in the second on Court 14 battling Romanian Ana Bogdan, while double Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the No.32 seed, took out Hungarian Anna Bondar 7-6(0), 6-1. Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu is on Court 7, facing Belgian qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure.
After leading 2-0 in the first set, Andreescu fell behind 3-6, 0-2 to the left-handed Bonaventure, who came into the match battle-tested with three qualifying wins under her belt. Andreescu clawed her way back into the contest and took the second set 7-5. She opened up a 3-0 lead in the decider before play was interrupted due to rain.—IANS