Naomi Osaka won as many Grand Slams as Iga Swiatek has, and today she reminded us all of that, but she still couldn't beat the Pole at the 2024 Roland Garros.
Before the match, everybody assumed that Swiatek would cruise through this matchup largely because she's the better layer on clay. Nobody doubts that Osaka can beat Swiatek, but very few thought it was possible on clay. The start of the match certainly looked that way, but the former world no. 1 never gave up because she believed in herself.
Swiatek took a break, but midway through, she kind of ran into some issues. Osaka started to hit better and with more confidence, and the Polish player lost the break. She even had to save set points a bit later because her own play kind of vanished under that tremendous pressure from Osaka.
The set ended up in a tiebreak, which was a disaster for Osaka because she lost 7-1. Everything she did well in the games prior she threw away in that one. Her response was majestic, though. A very angry Osaka jumped all over Swiatek in the second set, taking an early lead.
She then kept applying the pressure and quickly won the set 6-1, which is incredible. The last time Swiatek lost a set this badly on clay was back in 2022 in Warsaw against Caroline Garcia. That's how much trouble Osaka gave her.
The final set opened with an early break point for Swiatek, which was unused. She then lost the serve, which was a huge deal because she would fall behind 0-3. The defending champion was in trouble with a very small chance to turn things around, so did she?
Yes, she did it, but only barely. Osaka was up a break and held it for a while, even serving for the match. She actually had a match point, which she didn't use as Swiatek saved it at 5-3 to make it 5-4. She held her serve then, broke Osaka to take a 6-5 lead and finished it off, winning the match 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5. It was an incredible match and an incredibly clutch comeback from Swiatek, though Osaka helped her a tiny bit.
| Iga Swiatek | 7-6(1) 1-6 7-5 | Naomi Osaka |
| 0 | Aces | 8 |
| 3 | Double Faults | 4 |
| 61% | First Serve % | 63% |
| 66% (47/71) | Points Won After First Serve % | 70% (49/70) |
| 48% (22/46) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 41% (17/41) |
| 20% (3/15) | Break Point Conversion | 56% (5/9) |
| 37 | Winners | 54 |
| 32 | Unforced Errors | 38 |