Osaka Records Her First Roland Garros Win Since 2021 Despite Losing Big Lead

Naomi Osaka returned to Roland Garros for the first time since 2022 and won her first match relatively comfortably.

The Japanese player signaled her intention to do well on clay years ago, in 2021, when she wanted to take the surface more seriously. It's a big part of the calendar with many events on it, so it makes sense to focus on improving on the red dirt.

It also makes sense because, in the past, she largely avoided it, and there was no reason for that. Her intentions never came to fruition due to mental health issues that plagued her at the time, but the intent remained.

She showed it this year by playing a lot of preparation events ahead of Roland Garros to finetune her tennis for the major. She had a really good run at the Italian Open not long ago and continued that solid display in Paris.

The opponent was Lucia Bronzetti, a very tricky player who admittedly can't really hang with Osaka from the baseline, but she's a player who never gives up, which is what we saw in this match as well.

Osaka dominated in the opening set, winning it easily 6-1, mostly because she was crushing the ball from the baseline. Bronzetti was overwhelmed and couldn't do anything except try her best to hit as hard as she could.

It worked out in the second set, though Osaka missed a bit more as well. The second set wasn't as easy as the first one because Bronzetti was really motivated to give it her all.

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The former world no. 1 had break chances at 3-3, but the resolve of the Italian prevailed. It won her the second set as Osaka lost focus a little bit in that final game of the set.

She was a bit impatient in those games, rushing to conclude the point when she didn't need it. Things regressed to the mean quite a bit in that third set, which Osaka opened with an early break and added another later one.

As motivated as Bronzetti was, the 4-0 lead was just too much to overcome, even though the Italian was able to turn it around and lead 5-4. Still, Osaka showed why she's the former world no. 1, winning the match 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

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