Former world number one Naomi Osaka navigated a tricky first round match against France’s Diane Parry at Wimbledon yesterday and eventually won 6-1 1-6 6-4 with the help of some nervous serving from her opponent.
The 26-year-old Japanese, who entered the draw as a wildcard, looked to be in total command in the first set, her hefty groundstrokes hitting the lines and her big serve forcing Parry on to the back foot.
But Osaka, who returned to the tour this year after 15 months of maternity leave for her daughter who turns one on Tuesday, appeared to lose concentration and rhythm in the second set and 21-year-old Parry, ranked 53, took advantage.
“I wish I could say I enjoyed (the match) all the time,” Osaka, who has won both the U.S. and Australian Opens twice, said in an interview on court. “My heart was racing.”
The match see-sawed into the third set with the players trading breaks at the start.
Osaka, who was playing at Wimbledon for the first time for five years, saved break points in a difficult ninth game to lead 5-4 before Parry’s serve crumbled and she produced three double faults to concede the match.
“I feel like these are the type of matches that you kind of have to play just in order to ease into the tournament,” Osaka said after thanking the crowd for getting behind her.
Meanwhile, Emma Raducanu snapped a dispiriting sequence of first-round defeats for British players at Grand Slams as the wildcard beat Mexico’s Renata Zarazua 7-6(0) 6-3 on Centre Court on Monday.
The 21-year-old got an unexpected boost when Russian 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, her scheduled opponent, withdrew because of illness on the morning of the match with Zarazua, a loser in qualifying, taking her place.
With former England soccer captain David Beckham watching on from the Royal Box, Raducanu looked nervous early on against an unorthodox opponent but eventually contained the unforced errors that littered the first set to move into round two.
It was a welcome win for the former U.S. Open champion who missed last year’s Wimbledon because of injury and who has struggled to reach the dizzy heights of her fairytale victory at Flushing Meadows in 2021.
[Leadership]