The 20-year-old Anisimova, a shock semifinalist at Roland Garros three years in the past, has now overwhelmed Osaka in back-to-back grand slams after her third-round victory on the Australian Open in January.
Of their newest conflict at Roland Garros — arguably the choose of the first-round matches within the ladies’s draw — a detailed, seesawing first set featured 5 breaks of serve, together with the primary three video games of the match.
Anisimova seized the benefit when she broke Osaka at 5-5 and went on to take the primary set in 48 minutes, whereas within the second, she broke at 3-3 and twice held serve to wrap up the win.
The American, ranked No. 27 on this planet, will face Croatia’s Donna Vekic within the second spherical on Wednesday.
“While you see Naomi Osaka within the first spherical, you do not suppose it should be straightforward,” Anismiova stated in her on-court interview after the sport.
“It was a really robust match. I used to be going on the market and I knew I needed to play good tennis … I am simply very completely happy to be again right here and thru the primary spherical.”
Osaka withdrew from final 12 months’s French Open having declined to talk to the media in an effort to shield her psychological well being.
On Friday forward of her first-round sport, Osaka spoke to the media and admitted she was “nonetheless excited about” the occasions eventually 12 months’s event.
The defeat to Anisimova means Osaka ends her clay-court swing having performed simply three video games: she misplaced within the second spherical of the Madrid Open and needed to withdraw from the Italian Open resulting from an ankle damage.
Final week, the boys’s and girls’s skilled excursions, together with the Worldwide Tennis Federation (ITF), introduced that rating factors wouldn’t be awarded at Wimbledon following the transfer to exclude Russian and Belarusian gamers from this 12 months’s occasion amid the battle in Ukraine.
“I am the kind of participant that will get motivated by seeing my rating go up or stuff like that,” Osaka advised reporters on Monday.
“I feel the intention is admittedly good however the execution is sort of in all places.”
Swiatek strikes on, Krejcikova crashes out
Elsewhere within the ladies’s draw, 2020 champion and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek comfortably progressed to the second spherical with a 6-2 6-0 win in opposition to Lesia Tsurenko.
The victory prolonged Swiatek’s unbeaten run to 29 matches — the longest on the WTA Tour since 2013.
In the meantime, final 12 months’s champion Barbora Krejcikova suffered an early exit with a shock 6-1 2-6 3-6 defeat in opposition to teenager Diane Parry.
Buoyed by the help of a house crowd, Parry recovered from early breaks firstly of the second and third units — which included profitable six-straight video games within the second — to take her first ever victory in opposition to a top-10 participant.