Kerber falls to qualifier while Osaka advances to second round
In early day one action at the French Open, it was the 26 seed Angelique Kerber who fell in the first round, losing to Anhelina Kalinina 6-2, 6-4. In the first match on Court Philippe-Chatrier, it was the two seed Naomi Osaka who won her first-round match, defeating Patricia Maria Tig in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(4).
The first match on Court 14 at the tournament was where the first upset took place, as Kerber is the first seeded player on the men’s or women’s side to lose at the 2021 French Open.
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In the match, the biggest difference between Kalinina and Kerber was the first serve win percentage. For Kerber, she only won 41% of the points where she got her first serve in, while Kalinina won just under 60% of her first serve points, according to Infosys Match Centre.
Kalinina was a lot better on Sunday on the big points, which led to breaking Kerber six times on just 10 chances. Kerber on the other hand only broke Kalinina’s serve three times in the match, but did have eight break chances in total.
This is now Kerber’s third year in a row where she has lost in the first round at the French, while Kalinina is now 1-0 at the French Open, as this was her first career match at Roland Garros.
There was another Grand Slam champion playing early on day one, as Naomi Osaka won her first match in straight sets in just over an hour and 45 minutes on Sunday.
Osaka was dominant on her first serve the entire match, winning an incredible 89% of the points when she got her first serve in, while only having one ace, according to Infosys Match Centre. Although Osaka had 12 more unforced errors than Tig in the match, Osaka did have 20 more winners, finishing the match with four more winners than unforced errors.
Tig was able to save a lot of break points in the match, as Osaka only broke Tig twice on 10 chances, while Tig broke Osaka once, but only had two looks at a break point. An encouraging stat for Osaka would be that she won 81% of the points when she came to the net, coming in a total of 16 times in the match.
Next. 2 dark-horse candidates to watch for in the women’s draw of the French Open. dark
Other results from early day one action at the French include Fabio Fognini, 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta, Danielle Collins, and 33 seed Paula Badosa all advancing to the second round.