Roland-Garros: Badosa wins arm wrestle with Osaka to advance to second round

Paula Badosa showed on Monday that her clay court season, disrupted by injuries, has not significantly affected her level of play. The Australian Open semi-finalist and 10th seed overcame world No 49 Naomi Osaka 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 at Roland-Garros, despite Osaka having a promising clay season (7 wins, 3 losses) that had raised her ambitions.

“I’m very happy with the level of play,” said the Spaniard in an interview with Marion Bartoli on Philippe-Chatrier. After a very limited preparation, she had admitted over the weekend that she had no idea what to expect. Technically, this was her first win on clay this season, as she had only played two matches, one of which she completed.

The difference between the two was minimal, with both displaying fairly similar match stats. The turning point came in the backhand exchanges, where Osaka’s 20 unforced errors in backhand (53 overall) weighed heavily—particularly on Badosa’s break point, which proved decisive in the third set at 4-3.

Between two strong servers, Badosa’s serve held up better. Osaka struggled with her second serve (converting only 39% over the match), while the Spaniard held her nerve at 5-4 in the third set, sealing the match with two aces and a service winner.

Osaka called for the trainer after the first set, but there’s no clear indication at this stage that an injury impaired her performance. The Japanese player will mostly reflect on her inability to maintain her break advantage in the third set—she was up 2-0 and at 30-30 on her own serve.

“I respect her a lot, I love her tennis, and I always wanted to play her one day,” said Badosa, noting that the two 27-year-olds had never faced each other before. “It just wasn’t easy to play her in the first round.”
Badosa, currently ranked 10th in the world, will face the winner of the match between Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse and American McCartney Kessler in the second round of the French Open.

Paris (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 56.352.000, most recent results first):

• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Marie Bouzkova

• Maria Lourdes Carle vs. Ann Li
• Karolina Muchova vs. Alycia Parks
• Solana Sierra vs. Yulia Putintseva
• Katie Volynets vs. Joanna Garland
• Lois Boisson vs. Elise Mertens
• Sonay Kartal vs. Erika Andreeva
• Anca Todoni vs. Jessica Pegula
• Elsa Jacquemot vs. Maria Sakkari
• Olivia Gadecki vs. Coco Gauff
• Magdalena Frech vs. Ons Jabeur
• Elina Avanesyan vs. Anhelina Kalinina
• Suzan Lamens vs. Ashlyn Krueger
• Chloe Paquet vs. Tereza Valentova
• Varvara Gracheva vs. Sofia Kenin
• Nao Hibino vs. Moyuka Uchijima
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Hailey Baptiste
• Yanina Wickmayer vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Oksana Selekhmeteva vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Cristina Bucsa
• Taylor Townsend vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Madison Keys vs. Daria Saville
• Caroline Dolehide vs. Greet Minnen
• Clara Tauson vs. Magda Linette
• Leolia Jeanjean vs. Irina-Camelia Begu
• Barbora Krejcikova vs. Tatjana Maria
• Carole Monnet vs. Katie Boulter
• Elena-Gabriela Ruse vs. McCartney Kessler
• Polina Kudermetova vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Arantxa Rus vs. Camila Osorio
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Katerina Siniakova
• Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Maya Joint: monday
• Caroline Garcia vs. Bernarda Pera: monday
• Danielle Collins beat Jodie Burrage: 7-6 (1), 6-4
• Jaqueline Cristian beat Kimberly Birrell: 6-1, 6-0
• Robin Montgomery beat Diane Parry (WC): 6-2, 6-1
• Liudmila Samsonova (19) beat Mayar Sherif: 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Iga Swiatek (5) beat Rebecca Sramkova: 6-3, 6-3
• Emma Raducanu beat Xinyu Wang: 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
• Veronika Kudermetova beat Viktoriya Tomova: 7-5, 6-1
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro beat Emma Navarro (9): 6-0, 6-1
• Elena Rybakina (12) beat Julia Riera (Q): 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
• Yuliia Starodubtseva (LL) beat Tamara Korpatsch (Q): 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
• Sara Bejlek (Q) beat Marta Kostyuk (26): 6-3, 6-1
• Anastasia Potapova beat Linda Noskova (29): 5-7, 6-1, 7-5
• Jasmine Paolini (4) beat Yue Yuan: 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
• Olga Danilovic beat Leylah Fernandez (27): 6-3, 6-1
• Iva Jovic (WC) beat Renata Zarazua: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Amanda Anisimova (16) beat Nina Stojanovic (Q): 6-3, 4-1 ret.
• Donna Vekic (18) beat Anna Blinkova: 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1
• Leyre Romero Gormaz (Q) beat Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah (WC): 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Diana Shnaider (11) beat Anastasiia Sobolieva (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Jil Teichmann beat Lucrezia Stefanini (Q): 6-4, 6-4
• Qinwen Zheng (8) beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: 6-4, 6-3
• Dayana Yastremska beat Destanee Aiava (WC): 7-5, 6-1
• Emiliana Arango beat Alexandra Eala: 6-0, 2-6, 6-3
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Kamilla Rakhimova: 6-1, 6-0
• Anna Bondar beat Laura Siegemund: 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Eva Lys beat Peyton Stearns (28): 6-0, 6-3
• Viktorija Golubic beat Petra Kvitova: 3-6, 6-0, 6-4
• Elina Svitolina (13) beat Zeynep Sonmez: 6-1, 6-1
• Victoria Mboko (Q) beat Lulu Sun: 6-1, 7-6 (4)