Naomi Osaka (134th-Japan) has won her first major singles title since giving birth.
Osaka defeated Lucia Bronzetti (67th-ranked Italy) 2-1 (6-1 4-6 7-5) in the first round of the women’s singles main draw on the first day of the French Open tennis tournament (€53.5 million – $79.1 million) at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, on Saturday.
Osaka, a four-time major singles champion at the 2018 and 2020 US Opens and 2019 and 2021 Australian Opens, won her first major title in two years and four months after reaching the third round of the 2022 Australian Open.
Osaka announced her pregnancy ahead of the 2023 Australian Open and gave birth to a baby girl last July.
Osaka, who lost in the first round at both the French Open and US Open in 2022, returned to the Australian Open in January after giving birth, but again failed to break the first round barrier.
After leading 4-0 in the third set before dropping five games to fall back to 4-5, Osaka won three games in a row to close out the two-hour, one-minute match.
Osaka will face the winner of the Iga Szibiontek (No. 1-Poland) – Réolia Jean (No. 148-France) match in the second round.
The matchup between the former and current world No. 1s will likely be decided in the second round, as both are strong favorites to win the tournament.
Civion Tech and Osaka have split their two head-to-head 토토 meetings.
While Sibiong is a strong clay court player who will be looking to win her third straight title at the event, Osaka has won all four of her major titles on hard courts and has never made it past the round of 16 at the French Open.
Kwon Soon-woo (494th), the only South Korean to compete in the singles main draw, will begin his first round match at 6 p.m. KST on Sunday.
Kwon will face Emil Rusuvuori (67th-ranked Finland) in the first round.
Kwon’s third-round (Round of 32) appearance at this event in 2021 is her best result at a major tournament.