French teen dumps out defending queen in Roland-Garros shock
Defending women’s singles champion Barbora Krejcikova has crashed out in the first round of the French Open, going down in three sets to unseeded teenager Diane Parry.
Second seed Krejcikova suffered a 6-1, 2-6, 3-6 defeat at Roland-Garros on Monday, in what was the Czech player’s first match since February after she was sidelined with an elbow injury.
The loss for Krejcikova – who was a surprise winner at last year’s French Open when she was unseeded – makes her just the third female defending champion to see their title defense falter at the first hurdle.
It was a major scalp for French world number 97 Parry, as the 19-year-old home hero progresses to meet Camila Osorio of Colombia in the next round.
🇫🇷 Teenage Dream 🇫🇷19-year-old Diane Parry dethrones defending champion Krejcikova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 to become the lowest-ranked woman to beat the No.2 seed in Paris since No.114 Rus upset Clijsters in 2011#RolandGarrospic.twitter.com/WcGUtJYoiW
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 23, 2022
Also on Monday, four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka lost her first-round French Open match at the hands of Amanda Anisimova.
It is the second successive time the American has knocked Osaka out of a major tournament, following Anisimova’s win in their meeting in the third round of the Australian Open back in January.
Elsewhere, women’s world number one Iga Swiatek – the victor in Paris in 2020 – extended her remarkable winning streak to 29 matches as she safely navigated her first-round assignment, easing past Lesia Tsurenko, 6-2 6-0, in 54 minutes.