PARIS: Naomi Osaka’s tennis dress — embellished with gold sequence — has grabbed more headlines than her tennis at the French Open. On Saturday, the four-time major winner’s play echoed the sparkle of her costume, as she powered into the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time.
Osaka, whose four major titles have come on hardcourts in Melbourne and New York, has been in the third round here thrice previously. This time, up against the 18-year-old American Iva Jovic, she scored a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4 win to set up a blockbuster last-16 showdown against the world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, who saw off Daria Kasatkina’s late charge 6-0, 7-5.
“I’m just a lot calmer now. I accept that it’s a process,” Osaka said.
Prajwal Hegde, Senior Editor (Tennis) at The Times of India since...
Read MorePrajwal Hegde, Senior Editor (Tennis) at The Times of India since July 2005, has covered all four Grand Slams—Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open—for over a decade, along with Tour events across Asia and Europe, Davis Cup, and BJK Cup. She received the 2021 Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award from the ATP. Prajwal serves on the International Tennis Federation’s Media Commission and is a member of the International Tennis Writers Association. She appears in the docuseries Break Point and authored the Steffi Graf chapter in Sportstars 40, published by The Hindu in January 2020.
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