Glittering Naomi Osaka edges out Iva Jovic to prolong French Open run

PARIS – Naomi Osaka continued to shine in the City of Light as she battled past American teenager Iva Jovic 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 in the French Open third round on May 30.

On Court Suzanne-Lenglen, the Japanese star once again made an eye-catching entry, wearing a gold jacket and a voluminous gold train, with pink tennis sneakers and a black visor.

She shed the outer layers to play in another variation of her gold tennis dress, which shone in the blazing sun of the fading Paris heatwave.

After the match, Osaka refused to reveal if she had more outfits lined up in her hotel room.

“I think it’s a surprise every time,” she said.

The 16th seed continued what is already her longest Roland Garros run.

“I was a lot calmer than in my first matches,” said Osaka, who has won the Australian Open and US Open twice each.

“In a Slam the further I get, the calmer I am. It’s such an honour to be here. It’s the furthest I have ever been here.”

She will next face Belarusian top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who beat unseeded Australian Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5. It was her 100th victory as the world No. 1, making her the ninth player to achieve the feat since the inception of the WTA rankings.

In a match dominated by the serve, Osaka gained the decisive break in the 10th game of the third set.

Jovic, seeded 17th, opened the game with an ace but faltered after that when the Japanese returned, finding the net twice and then hitting long on the first match point.

The players exchanged breaks early in the first set and midway through the second before both went to tiebreaks.

Osaka edged the first while Jovic, 18, raced away to win in the second.

The 28-year-old said her serve had been crucial against her young opponent.

“I am really glad it was working,” said Osaka. “Against some players you need to put your serve in and she was very aggressive on my second serve.”

Also on May 30, Russia’s Diana Shnaider beat Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova in a match overshadowed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The world No. 23 won 7-5, 6-1 to advance to the fourth round after the build-up to the match had been dominated by her 65th-ranked opponent, who accused her of “taking money” from a “company financing war crimes”.

The players did not shake hands after the match. Shnaider will next face American Madison Keys or Canada’s rising star Victoria Mboko, whose clash ended after press time.

World No. 6 Amanda Anisimova suffered an upset by France’s 92nd-ranked Diane Parry, falling 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) to the 23-year-old.

The Frenchwoman will next face Poland’s world No. 114 Maja Chwalinska, who also beat a higher-ranked opponent with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback win over Greek world No. 49 Maria Sakkari.

In the men’s draw, Italian Flavio Cobolli dismantled 20-year-old American Learner Tien 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the fourth round in commanding fashion.

The 10th seed is the third-highest ranked player left in men’s draw at press time, after German Alexander Zverev and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime. He will next face American Zachary Svajda, who beat Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.

Meanwhile, three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic said he was unsure if he would return to the red clay of Roland Garros in 2027, following his third-round defeat by Brazilian teenage sensation Joao Fonseca on May 29.

The 39-year-old Serb, who celebrated his birthday on May 22, fell 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5, raising questions over his future in the tournament after 22 consecutive appearances.

“I don’t know,” the world No. 4 said, when asked whether he would play at Roland Garros again.

Djokovic, who has been injured for three months, said he felt he had played “really good tennis” against Fonseca, but felt tired at the end of what will enter records as his longest French Open match at 4hr 53min.

“A couple of times where I felt like I was barely standing on my legs towards the end of the match,” the 24-time Grand Slam winner said.

It was the second time that Djokovic lost from two sets up, with the other also coming at Roland Garros, against Jurgen Melzer in 2010.

Should he choose to return, he would join a short list of players who have played in the French Open at 40, a feat achieved by few in the Open era. AFP, REUTERS