Naomi Osaka may not be saying too much over the next fortnight, but the message she delivered with a confident opening round performance at the French Open came through loud and clear as she battled past Patricia Maria Tig of Romania 6-4, 7-6.
Having infuriated the French Tennis Federation with her pre-tournament announcement that she would boycott press duties at Roland Garros over mental health concerns, Osaka was handed an early start on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The US and Australian Open champion has yet to advance beyond the third round in Paris, where she arrived this year with a record of two defeats from her three matches on clay, and it is tempting to imagine that the organisers were hoping for an early resolution to an issue that has dominated the pre-tournament agenda.
If so, they will have been disappointed. Despite some wobbly moments, not least when serving for the opening set at 5-2, Osaka went about her business with quiet conviction. She is not the most natural mover on the red dirt, but her power is such that it only takes a good connection with the ball to put an opponent on the back foot. Against Tig, she connected in abundance.
Surprisingly, given her vow of silence, Osaka did fulfil her on-court interview duties. In a stilted, socially distanced exchange with former French player Fabrice Santoro that was not helped by poor microphone acoustics, Osaka was asked how she could adapt her game to hard courts, where she has won each of her four slams. “It’s a work in progress,” she replied. “Hopefully the more I play, the better it will get.”
After saving a break point in the opening game, Osaka broke in the next and quickly established a 3-0 lead. It briefly looked like Osaka might run away with the match, but the 63rd-ranked Romanian dug in and slowly began to find her service rhythm. Tig broke back in the eighth game as her more feted opponent showed her first signs of fallibility, but Osaka saw out the set two games later with some dominant serving.
Tig matched the number two seed step for step in the second set, saving a match point against her serve at 5-6 with a courageous forehand winner before conjuring a brilliant topspin lob to force the tiebreak, which Osaka won 7-4. She will play Ana Bogdan of Romania next, who beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-3.
An early casualty in the women’s draw was the 26th seed and former world No 1 Angelique Kerber. The German’s hopes of completing a career grand slam were ended by the Ukrainian qualifier Anhelina Kalinina 6-2, 6-4.
Also turning her attention to the grass-court season is former French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, who lost out to fellow grand slam champion Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
Petra Kvitova narrowly avoided going the same way after fighting back from match point down to beat Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.