Paris, May 30: Defending champion Iga Swiatek saved a match point to outlast fellow four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka 7-6 (7/1), 1-6, 7-5 in a breathtaking second-round clash at the French Open on Wednesday. World number one Swiatek trailed 5-2 in the final set but the Pole won the last five games of the match to keep her bid for a third successive Roland Garros title on track.
She is attempting to become only the fourth woman in the Open era to lift four Roland Garros titles and just the second — after Serena Williams — to complete the clay-court treble of Madrid, Rome and French Opens in the same season.
In a tense match at the French Open, world number three Carlos Alcaraz narrowly escaped defeat against 176th-ranked Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong, securing a four-set victory to advance to the third round. Despite initially dominating with a 6-3, 6-4 lead, Alcaraz faced a resurgence from his opponent in the third set, ultimately triumphing with a final score of 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic shrugged off doubts about the state of his game with a confident 6-4 7-6(3) 6-4 defeat of Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the French Open first round on Tuesday.
The top seed had to wait until the night match on the third day of the tournament to begin his quest for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title but quickly hit his stride to dispatch French wildcard Herbert on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Djokovic has not reached a final this year and his world number one ranking is under threat from Jannik Sinner.
But everything looked in fine working order against Herbert who put up solid resistance but never looked likely to unduly concern the Serbian who has now won 72 of his 74 first-round matches in Grand Slam tournaments.
The only blip was in the second set when Djokovic dropped serve and was dragged into a tiebreak but he found an extra gear to move towards victory.
Three-time Roland Garros champion Djokovic will face Spain’s Roberto