Paris: Czech No.11 seed Petra Kvitova saved a match point en route to a hard-fought 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-1 win over Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen on the opening day of the French Open Grand Smal in the first round at Roland-Garros here on Sunday.
Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion and two-time Roland-Garros semi-finalist, hit 11 double faults and needed two hours and 16 minutes to overcome an inspired Minnen and set up a second round against Elena Vesnina or Olga Govortsova.
Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka enjoyed a confident start to her Roland-Garros campaign with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Romanian world No.63 Patricia Maria Tig on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday to extend her winning streak at the Grand Slams to 15 matches in a row.
Her one-hour 47-minute success over Tig was just her second clay-court match-win of the season - from four matches contested - and she will now take on another Romanian, Ana Bogdan, who knocked out Italian lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-3.
Over on Court 14, No.26 seed and former world No.1 Angelique Kerber crashed out of the first round 6-2, 6-4 to Ukrainian qualifier Anhelina Kalinina.
The German three-time major champion has now lost her opener in Paris five times in the last six years.
Spain's Paula Badosa, who won the Belgrade title a week ago, kept up her great form this season to ease past American Lauren Davis 6-2, 7-6(3).
Her compatriot and two-time Roland-Garros quarter-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta joined her in round two with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Norbert Gombos of Slovakia.
Italian No.27 seed Fabio Fognini dispatched home favourite Gregoire Barrere 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.
Osaka fined
Naomi Osaka was fined USD 15,000 by the French Open tournament referee for skipping the post-match news conference after her first-round victory, and threatened with stiffer penalties if she continues to avoid her media obligations. The penalty was announced in a joint statement from the president of the French tennis federation, Gilles Moretton, and the heads of the other three Grand Slam tournaments. The statement also said that Osaka has been advised that "should she continue to ignore her media obligations during the tournament, she would be exposing herself to possible further Code of Conduct infringement consequences.
