Swiatek survives almighty scare to pip Osaka, Alcaraz battles past De Jong

Defending champion Iga Swiatek was pushed to the brink by fellow four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka but secured a 7-6(1) 1-6 7-5 victory after saving a match point in a high-voltage second-round match at Roland Garros on Wednesday.

Top seed Swiatek's clay prowess makes her a firm favourite against anyone but the 22-year-old, who entered the contest on the back of 13 wins and titles in Madrid and Rome, faced huge pressure and was a point away from dropping the first set.

In testing conditions under the roof on Philippe Chatrier, the powerful Osaka posed a litany of problems in one of her best matches since coming back this year from a maternity break, but did not capitalise while up 40-30 at 5-4, hitting a shot long.

Three-time champion Swiatek raised her level and ran away with the opening set in the tiebreak but the Pole found herself trailing 4-0 in the next set as the 26-year-old Osaka shrugged off any disappointment to comfortably level the contest.

Osaka saved two break points to hold at the start of the decider and fired a sublime backhand cross court winner in the next game to pounce for a 2-0 lead, which the Japanese player extended on serve after another almighty battle.

A rattled Swiatek clawed her way back from 5-2 down and saved a match point before taking full advantage of late errors from a nervy Osaka's racket to complete a famous victory and avoid her earliest exit from the Grand Slam. 

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur beat Colombia's Camila Osorio 6-3 1-6 6-3 in a roller-coaster match in humid conditions under the roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen to move into the third round.

Jabeur hardly put a foot wrong in the opening set but she allowed Osorio to get back into the match with a poor second-set performance before raising her intensity in the third to secure the win.

“Obviously tough conditions for me. I don't like when the ball gets too heavy. I didn't know how to manage much in the second set but I'm glad I turned it back in the third one,” Jabeur said.

Jabeur combined power and finesse in the opening set to put Osorio on the back foot, with some of her shots carrying an air of nonchalance as she made the Colombian run to all corners of the court.

The Tunisian sealed the first set in style with a powerful winner at the net but a fall in the second set upset her rhythm and allowed Osorio to claw her way back into the contest.

Though Jabeur picked herself up and dusted off the red Parisian dirt with a towel, she made several unforced errors as the Colombian broke twice and took a 5-1 lead.

Osorio forced a decider when a return from the Tunisian went wide — her 15th unforced error of the second set — and she took a set off the eighth seed for the first time in three meetings.

Both players struggled on serve in the decider which had five break points converted, but it was Jabeur who raised her intensity towards the end and also used her drop shot to good effect.

Jabeur took a 4-1 lead as Osorio struggled with her returns, before wrapping up the match with 31 winners.

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz reached third round but suffered a worrying loss of form midway through his match against Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong before winning 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2.

The third seed was forced to work hard for a two-set lead under the Court Philippe Chatrier roof but 176th-ranked De Jong refused to be intimidated and extended the match as Alcaraz suffered a third-set slump.

An error-strewn Alcaraz continued to struggle as the first four games of the fourth set all went against serve with the 21-year-old becoming increasingly frustrated on court.

But Alcaraz regained some control in the nick of time to hold serve for a 3-2 lead and he broke De Jong in the next game as his gritty opponent finally began to run out of steam.

There was some relief as Alcaraz accelerated towards victory and De Jong netted a forehand after a little more than three hours to end an absorbing contest.

“I said many times every player can cause you trouble and you have to be focused on every point, in every round; it doesn't matter about rankings,” the Wimbledon champion said in his on-court interview.

“It's good for me to get some rhythm but I prefer to spend some less hours on court.”

Alcaraz arrived in Paris having not played a tournament since losing in the Madrid quarterfinals a month ago, courtesy of a muscular problem in his arm.

That did not stop him blasting past J.J. Wolf in the first round but De Jong, who came through qualifying and then beat Britain's Jack Draper in round one, was a step up.

Reuters