A year following her unexpected withdrawal last year before her second round, the Japanese Naomi Osaka returned to the clay courts of Roland-Garros once morest Amanda Anisimova (28th in the WTA rankings), this Monday in the first round. And as at the Australian Open at the start of the year, the former world No. 1 came up once morest the American (7-5, 6-4).
Visibly tense, Osaka let go of her first two service games and quickly found herself trailing (3-1). Little helped by his four double faults and only 32% of points won behind his second ball (7 out of 22), the current 38th in the WTA rankings once once more lost his face-off and the first set in 48 minutes of play (7 -5).
Better entering the second set, the Japanese held the exchange better once morest the semi-finalist of the 2019 edition. But, having failed in the first ball (44% in the second set), she cracked in the seventh game. three break points in stride, she logically lost following 1h30 ‘of play (7-5, 6-4).
Anisimova will find Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic in the second round, who fell on Sunday from Sweden’s Mirjam Bjorklund (7-6 [6]6-2).
