PARIS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Iga Swiatek saved a match point before overcoming Naomi Osaka on Wednesday, avoiding the earliest French Open exit of her career in a thrilling second-round match in Paris.
The grueling battle, dubbed "worthy of a final" by seven-time French Open winner Chris Evert, lasted almost three hours before the 22-year-old Pole fought back to win 7-6 (7-1), 1-6, 7-5.
With a series of powerful baseline strikes, Osaka came within a point of pulling off the tournament's biggest upset and securing her first win over a Top 10 player on clay. However, the top seed Swiatek showed resilience and consistency to advance to the next round.
"That was intense, more intense than I expected for a second-round match," said Swiatek. "We played some amazing tennis."
Former world No.1 Osaka only returned to the sport four months ago after having her daughter and has previously struggled on clay, while the current world No.1 Swiatek is a clay specialist, winning three of her four Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros.
Escaping defeat against Osaka - whose four major titles all came on hard courts - means Swiatek has now lost just two of her 32 matches at Roland Garros.
After splitting the first two sets, Osaka faced three break points in her opening service game but saved them all. She then broke Swiatek with a backhand crosscourt winner, which induced a primal scream. In her second service game, she saved five more break points before Swiatek's forehand return found the net.
Now Osaka led 3-0, and five games later, she was serving for the match at 5-3.
But at 30-all, she hit a forehand into the net followed by a backhand that flew long. On Swiatek's second break point, Osaka hit what looked like a makeable backhand just long.
The match was back on serve. With Osaka serving at 5-all, a double fault gave Swiatek a pivotal 6-5 advantage.
Leading 30-15, Swiatek hit a screaming backhand crosscourt winner to go up 40-15. One more errant backhand from Osaka gave Swiatek the match.
"I cried when I got off the court, but then, you know, for me, I kind of realized I was watching Iga win this tournament last year, and I was pregnant. It was just my dream to be able to play her," said Osaka, now ranked 134.
Swiatek will next face 42nd-ranked Czech Marie Bouzkova or Jana Fett, the world number 135 from Croatia.
In the men's draw, Carlos Alcaraz progressed to the round of 32 for his fourth successive trip to Roland-Garros, winning a gripping 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 battle against Jesper de Jong under the roof of Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The world No.3 defied the Dutch qualifier to earn a last-32 match-up with either 27th seed Sebastian Korda or Soonwoo Kwon, whose match was postponed due to rain.
"Every player can cause you trouble," said Alcaraz, who reached last year's semifinal before losing to Novak Djokovic. "You have to be focused in every round, have to play at your best, it doesn't matter what the ranking is."
Second seed Jannik Sinner, playing in the night session, beat home veteran Richard Gasquet in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. The 22-year-old Italian now awaits Pavel Kotov, who defeated Stan Wawrinka 7-6(5), 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5) to advance. ■
