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French Open: Anisimova eliminates Osaka, top women upset

By Alex Butler   |   May 23, 2022 at 10:29 AM
Amanda Anisimova (pictured) beat Naomi Osaka in straight sets in their first-round match at the 2022 French Open on Monday in Paris. Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA-EFE Naomi Osaka cited a lack of preparation matches after her first-round loss at the 2022 French Open on Monday in Paris. File Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI No. 4 Maria Sakkari (pictured) of Greece beat France's Clara Burel in straight sets in her first round match at the 2022 French Open on Sunday in Paris. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI Alexander Zverev (pictured) from Germany beat Austria's Sebastian Ofner in straight sets in his first-round match at the 2022 French Open on Sunday in Paris. File Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI No. 10 Garbine Muguruza of Spain was upset in the first round of the 2022 French Open on Sunday in Paris. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI No. 1 Novak Djokovic (pictured) of Serbia will face Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in his first-round match of the 2022 French Open Monday in Paris. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

May 23 (UPI) -- American Amanda Anisimova eliminated four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka from the 2022 French Open with a straight-sets victory in the first round Monday in Paris. Several top women's seeds also suffered upsets.

Anisimova needed just one hour and 30 minutes to win her match 7-5, 6-4 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. She will face Croatian Donna Vekic in the second round. Vekic beat Sweden's Mirjam Bjorklund in her opener Sunday at Roland Garros.

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"When you see Naomi Osaka in the first round, you don't think it's going to be easy," Anisimova said Monday in her on-court interview.

"It was a very tough match. I went out there and knew I had to play good tennis, especially because the conditions weren't easy. I'm just happy to be back here and through the first round."

Three Top 10 women's singles players suffered first-round upsets.

No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic was the highest seed to exit early. France's Diane Parry beat the defending French Open champion 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. No. 6 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and No. 10 Garbine Muguruza also suffered upset losses.

Anisimova, the No. 27 seed, totaled five aces, converted four of 10 break points and fired 27 winners in her tight win over Osaka of Japan. The unseeded Osaka fired four aces, 13 winners and converted two of five break points.

Anisimova, 20, broke Osaka's first two serves to take a 2-1 lead. She then held her serve for a 3-1 edge, but Osaka responded by winning the next three games to take a 4-3 lead.

Anisimova and Osaka exchanged wins over the next three games. Anisimova broke Osaka in the 11th game to earn a 6-5 lead and held for the next point to take the first set.

Anisimova and Osaka continued to battle in the second set. Anisimova held to tie the set at 3-3. She then broke Osaka's serve to win the next game, held for a 5-3 edge and went on to claim the decisive set.

"I thought I tried really hard," Osaka said in her post-match news conference. "It was unfortunate because I wasn't able to play as many matches leading into this tournament.

"There were probably some really bad decisions I made on certain points. Overall, it wasn't too bad."

No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 32 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Bianca Andreescu of Canada were among the top women's players to advance early Monday in first-round matches.

No. 4 Maria Sakkari of Greece and No. 14 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland were among the top players to advance Sunday at Roland Garros.

Magda Linette of Poland upset Jabeur while Kaia Kanepi of Estonia upset Muguruza.

On the men's side, No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany, No. 6 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada and No. 15 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina were among the top players to advance in Sunday matches.

No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia and No. 5 Rafael Nadal of Spain are scheduled to take the court later Monday for their first-round matches.

The 2022 French Open runs through June 5. Action will air daily throughout the tournament on NBC, Tennis Channel and Peacock.