Roland Garros - Day 5 - Osaka from behind again

Day 5 of Roland Garros 2019 and Naomi Osaka (1) faced unseeded but fellow dual Grand Slam title holder Vika Azarenka on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Head to head the players were 1-1 before this match, Osaka the most recent winner, in Rome last year.

Osaka served first here and after hitting a forehand winner to open proceedings, was broken.

Azarenka then consolidated the break before assaulting the Japanese serve again, the backhand on fire. A drop shot sealed a second break and a 3-0:lead.

No more service breaks for awhile and Azarenka served at 5-2 for the set. A double fault and an Osaka winner saw Azarenka down 15-30. Break point arrived when Azarenka pushed a forehand wide. Osaka retrieved one of the breaks and trailed 3-5.

At 5-4, Azarenka tried for a second time to serve out the set. Three set points were produced, and two were saved. The third was converted once Osaka mishit a forehand return. 6-4 Azarenka.

Osaka save two break points in the opening game of set two and Azarenka levelled at 1-1 after saving a break point herself.

The Belarusian survived a 14 point fourth game, where she was down 0-40. The three break points were saved by an Azarenka forehand down the line winner, an Osaka return error, and an Osaka netted forehand.

After wasting chances to achieve a break, Osaka dropped her own serve to trail 2-3, and Azarenka had the chance to take a double break when ahead in the seventh game.

Osaka stood firm, and lifted the standard of her tennis. In the longest game of the match, Azarenka served to take a 5-3 lead. She saved a break point with a service winner, but couldn’t convert game points. A second break point was saved thanks to a big serve. The third break chance was converted when Azarenka double faulted. Osaka was back in the match. 4-4.

At 5-6, Azarenka saved set point on three separate occasions, but on the fourth chance, Osaka hit a backhand winner and won the set 7-5.

Osaka saved three break points in the first game of set three but thereafter was dominant. The Azarenka serve was broken twice and Osaka led 5-1 with serve to come. Although she failed to do the job, the world #1 dispensed with Azarenka on her second attempt at serving it out.

Escaping again from the claws of defeat, Naomi Osaka won 4-6 7-5 6-3.