Paris: Defending champion Iga Swiatek escaped from set points with Naomi Osaka to reach the third round of the French Open on Wednesday, while Carlos Alcaraz overcame fears as rain continued to disrupt the tournament.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7/1), 1-6, 7-5 win over Osaka, ending a dark day in her 23rd singles match which was postponed until Thursday.
World number one Swiatek won the last five matches to continue his bid for a third Roland Garros title.
She is attempting to become the fourth woman to win four Roland Garros titles in the Open era, and second only to Serena Williams, to complete the clay-court feats of Madrid, Rome and the French Open in the same season.
“This match was really intense, stronger than I expected in the second round,” said Swiatek, who trailed 5-3 at the break on Osaka’s serve.
“Naomi plays great tennis, maybe she’ll be a clay pro soon!”
Osaka, who won only her second Grand Slam since giving birth to her daughter last July, was on the cusp of her biggest victory since returning to tennis at the start of the year, but took a philosophical view of the crushing defeat.
“I cried when I left the court, but then you know, for me, I realized that I saw Iga win this tournament last year and I got pregnant. It was my dream to play her,” said Osaka, ranked 134th.
Swiatek, who entered Paris with a 29-2 record, scored the first shot in the first meeting on clay between the former and current world No. 1, giving Osaka a 2-1 lead.
Osaka, who won her first Grand Slam title at the 2022 Australian Open against Lucia Bronzetti, was stuck at 4-4 after a long rally as Swiatek had predicted.
The Japanese star ran into trouble on Swiatek’s pole serve in the 10th game, but the top seed fell to force a tie-break before taking the opening set after 69 minutes.
Osaka produced a sensational response and broke Swiatek to open the second set before taking a 4-0 lead and dropping just one point to level the match.
Three break points passed Swiatek to start and Osaka’s clean shot put her opponent on the back foot again.
Osaka exploded for a 2-0 win before showing again in the decision to save five more breaks.
Swiatek managed to hold on for a break at 2-4, but looked doomed as Osaka broke a match point after three games.
A good return brought him to life and weak back Osaka Swiatek made a break to get back to 4-5.
After holding firm, Swiatek broke back to take a 6-5 lead before holding his nerve to seal victory almost three hours later.
Swiatek will next play Czech No. 42 Mari Bouzkova or Croatian No. 135 Jana Fett.
The match was played amid bad weather, but the two main courts called into action around 1500 GMT after a five-hour delay.
US Open champion and third seed Coco Gauff beat Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-3, 6-4, while eighth seed Ons Jabeur defeated Colombia’s Camila Osorio in three sets.
Alcaraz cruised through Spain 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the third set against world No. 176 Jesper de Ongo.
Wimbledon champion Alcaraz arrived in Paris with doubts over his fitness after a right wrist injury sidelined him for nearly a month.
Third seed Alcaraz looked set to fly against Dutch qualifier De Ongong, who was playing in only his second Grand Slam main draw, but in the end he had to work harder than expected.
Second seed Jannik Dosa beat home favorite Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the night session.
Former French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the last 32 for the sixth consecutive year with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4 win over Germany’s Daniel Altmaier.
