Roland-Garros: Osaka battles to first three-set win of comeback
The former world No 1 will meet Iga Swiatek, the top seed, or French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean in the next round
Naomi Osaka, Rome 2024
Image Credit: Inside / Panoramic
Brilliant in some parts, erratic in others, Japanese Naomi Osaka struggled but finally prevailed over Italian Lucia Bronzetti to score her first three-set win of her comeback, which began in January, and advance to the second round of Roland-Garros on Sunday.
The former world No 1, a two-time winner at the Australian Open and US Open Grand Slams in the first act of her career, won the first set 6-1. Bronzetti, ranked No 67 in the world, stayed with Osaka in the second and broke the Japanese player in the tenth game to win it 6-4 and send the match into a decider.
Osaka regrouped herself in the decider and went up a double break to lead 4-0 but that’s when things got really interesting. Spraying her groundstrokes outside the lines of the Philippe Charrier Court and displaying nerves which she admitted made her tight, Osaka lost five games in a row to find herself serving to stay in the match at 5-4 in the third.
But in the final twist of the match, the Japanese star held her serve for 5-5, and then broke Bronzetti for a 6–5 lead thanks to a close line call that went in her favour, followed by a net cord and a gust of wind that saw Bronzetti unable to control her groundstroke on breakpoint.
Osaka returned and served out the match 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 to score her first Grand Slam win since the 2022 Australian Open. The Japanese player was 0-2 in three-set matches in 2024 prior to this win.
“I think for me the match, it really was like a roller coaster, said Osaka after the win. “I felt like I was extremely focused in the first set and maybe I let it go a little bit, and then I kind of came back in the third but then I let it go a little bit, and then I just got really tight from there.
“I’m really glad I was able to regroup and win and sit here today.”
The win sets up a likely showdown with the current world No 1 and undisputed clay court queen of the women’s game – Poland’s Iga Swiatek, who meets French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean in another first round match.
Paris (Grand Slam), other first-round matches (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53,478,000):
- Erika Andreeva vs. Aryna Sabalenka
- Irene Burillo Escorihuela vs. Moyuka Uchijima
- Yulia Putintseva vs. Sloane Stephens
- Katie Boulter vs. Paula Badosa
- Zeynep Sonmez vs. Emma Navarro
- Sara Errani vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
- Yue Yuan vs. Mayar Sherif
- Madison Keys vs. Renata Zarazua
- Magdalena Frech vs. Daria Kasatkina
- Lucija Ciric Bagaric vs. Peyton Stearns
- Mirra Andreeva vs. Emina Bektas
- Victoria Azarenka vs. Nadia Podoroska
- Greet Minnen vs. Elena Rybakina
- Arantxa Rus vs. Angelique Kerber
- Petra Martic vs. Kristina Mladenovic
- Elise Mertens vs. Maria Lourdes Carle
- Anna Blinkova vs. Sorana Cirstea
- Lin Zhu vs. Elina Avanesyan
- Ashlyn Krueger vs. Tamara Korpatsch
- Qinwen Zheng vs. Alize Cornet
- Harriet Dart vs. Linda Noskova
- Julia Riera vs. Irina-Camelia Begu
- Bernarda Pera vs. Nao Hibino
- Elsa Jacquemot vs. Ana Bogdan
- Fiona Ferro vs. Diane Parry
- Elina Svitolina vs. Karolina Pliskova
- Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
- Bianca Andreescu vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo
- Coco Gauff vs. Julia Avdeeva
- Maria Sakkari vs. Varvara Gracheva
- Panna Udvardy vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
- Leylah Fernandez vs. Jessika Ponchet
- Yulia Starodubtseva vs. Cristina Bucsa
- Iga Swiatek vs. Leolia Jeanjean
- Anna Kalinskaya vs. Clara Burel
- Anhelina Kalinina vs. Camila Osorio
- Danielle Collins vs. Caroline Dolehide
- Viktoriya Tomova vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
- Sachia Vickery vs. Ons Jabeur
- Daria Saville vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Oceane Dodin vs. Kayla Day
- Liudmila Samsonova vs. Magda Linette
- Rebeka Masarova vs. Marketa Vondrousova
- Anastasia Potapova vs. Kamilla Rakhimova
- Alison Van Uytvanck vs. Tamara Zidansek
- Katie Volynets vs. Aleksandra Krunic
- Olga Danilovic vs. Martina Trevisan
- Xinyu Wang vs. Jule Niemeier
- Barbora Krejcikova vs. Viktorija Golubic
- Eva Lys vs. Caroline Garcia
- Xiyu Wang vs. Zhuoxuan Bai
- Tatjana Maria vs. Clara Tauson
- Rebecca Sramkova vs. Amanda Anisimova
- Chloe Paquet vs. Diana Shnaider
- Katerina Siniakova vs. Dalma Galfi
- Jessica Bouzas Maneiro vs. Jana Fett
- Laura Siegemund vs. Sofia Kenin
- Jelena Ostapenko vs. Jaqueline Cristian
- Laura Pigossi vs. Marta Kostyuk: sunday
- Dayana Yastremska (30) beat Ajla Tomljanovic (WC): 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
- Yafan Wang beat Maria Timofeeva: 6-3, 6-3
- Marie Bouzkova beat Veronika Kudermetova (29): 6-2, 6-4
- Donna Vekic beat Lesia Tsurenko: 6-5 ret.
