Naomi Osaka avoids angry French

PARIS >> The body language of Naomi Osaka has clearly revealed her fate. In spite of all that she has already done, the internal pressure linked to her desire to make her debut even worse as the No. 1 seed of a Grand Slam tournament.

Fed up with his mediocre play in the French Open's first round match – mistakes made by Osaka's racket gave her opponent her first 30 points today – she missed another shot. She was in a losing game. Osaka turned to look at his box and display what appeared to be a sarcastic thumbs up.

"Certainly sarcastic. I thought a little, "Do you see this incredible tennis that I play here? Bravo. I do not even know what I wanted them to do. I felt a bit bad after doing it. It was more like I had to put my emotions somewhere, "Osaka said. "It's one of those games where you do not play well, but you have to find a way to win. For me, I'm just starting to learn to do that. "

Scarcely five times within two points of the defeat in a whirling wind, Osaka has kept pace enough to overcome all these mistakes and stretch his winning streak in 15-match majors by finally beating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 90th in the standings, 0 -6, 7-6 (4), 6-1.

As she was leaving, Osaka gave a forehand too hard to handle, then looked back at his box, his left fist clenched and pumping. Subsequently, she admitted to being nervous as she pursues a third major consecutive title to top seeded.

"I think I think too much of the number next to my name right now, instead of feeling free and having fun like I usually do in Grand Slam," Osaka said. "The reason I did not move my feet, is because I was very nervous, very stressed."

Defending champion Simona Halep could tell.

Starting for the first time defending a Slam title, she also performed unevenly and needed three sets to qualify. Ajla Tomljanovic, who ranks 47th, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

"I need to be calm. Just focus on my game. Do not think of my opponents or the outcome, "said Halep, a two-time finalist in Paris before winning the trophy in 2018.

Clay has never been the best surface of Osaka; her power-based style is more suited to hard courts, such as those of the US Open that she won last September or the Australian Open that she won in January to become the first Japanese tennis player to rank No. 1.

His first outing of the first round in 13 appearances at the majors took place at Roland Garros two years ago. The only 6-0 Grand Slam set that she lost has arrived today.

Still, after registering a 9-11 record on clay, she is 8-1 in 2019. She talked about feeling more and more comfortable on the surface and assured to all that injuries to the abdomen and the thumb that she's having d treated in recent weeks are no longer a problem.

But nothing seemed to start against Schmiedlova, who has never passed the third round in major and has 6-15 opportunities.

The first 30 points of Schmiedlova were marked by 18 unforced errors and 12 forced fouls of Osaka – and no winner.

In the end, Osaka won despite 38 unresolved mistakes, 24 more than his opponents.

She will likely want to play better in her next match against two-time Australian Open champion and former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.

"It's going to be exciting for me," said Azarenka, who eliminated the winner of the 2017 French Open, Jelena Ostapenko, 6-4, 7-6 (4). "I like to challenge myself against the best players."

Osaka seemed to have found his advantage 3-0 in the second set.

This is where the intermittent rain of the day came back briefly as rain. Spectators opened umbrellas and players covered themselves with an orange tournament towel while they waited on their seat, before leaving the field for about five minutes.

In total, the delay was less than 10 minutes – the game went on elsewhere – so there was no warm-up on their return. The respite served Schmiedlova well: she suddenly produced her first winner with a speed of 150 km / h (155 km / h) which allowed her to reach the score of 3-1, then a total of 3.

Schmiedlova served twice for the match. At 6-5, 30-15, and again later, she had two points to win what would have been only the second defeat of the first seed of the number-one seed in the history of Canada. French Open.

Osaka said, "Can I sleep at night, knowing that I might have done something more?

Schmiedlova could not close it. Osaka would not let her.

"You can see," said Schmiedlova, "that she's # 1, out there."