Naomi Osaka stopped Donna Vekić in the second round of Roland-Garros and continued her comeback on the Paris clay
Naomi Osaka secured a place in the third round of Roland-Garros after defeating Donna Vekić 7-6(1), 6-4 on 28 May 2026 on Court Simonne-Mathieu. According to the official tournament match record, the second-round women’s singles encounter lasted one hour and 50 minutes, and Osaka, as the 16th seed, confirmed her role as the favorite in a match that carried competitive weight greater than that of a usual early-stage Grand Slam encounter. Vekić managed to stay close in the first set and take it to a thirteenth game, but Osaka imposed a more decisive rhythm in the tie-break and won it 7-1. In the second set, the Japanese tennis player maintained her advantage in the key games and closed out the duel with a 6-4 score.
For Osaka, this victory is important because it is her best Paris performance in the last several years and a confirmation of her gradual return among the contenders for bigger results on the Grand Slam stage. After the match, the WTA announced that with this victory Osaka had reached the third round of Roland-Garros for the first time since 2019, which further emphasizes the significance of the win against an experienced opponent. Although clay has never been her most natural environment, Osaka showed against Vekić that she is adapting increasingly well to slower conditions, higher bounces and longer rallies. Vekić, on the other hand, left the tournament after a solid performance in which she reached the second round with a convincing victory over French representative Alice Tubello.
The first set decided in a tie-break
From the beginning, the duel showed why it was one of the more interesting second-round encounters in the women’s draw. Vekić entered the match with the clear intention of neutralizing Osaka’s first strike and extending points whenever space opened up for her to do so. Osaka, however, managed for most of the first set to maintain an aggressive position behind the baseline and to pressure the Croatian player’s serve with powerful returns. According to Flashscore statistics, the difference between the players was not large in the number of points won, but Osaka was more efficient in the closing stages of sets and on important points. It was precisely that difference in execution that decided the first set, which after 12 games went to a tie-break.
In the decisive game of the first set, Osaka made the most pronounced scoring breakthrough of the entire encounter. After Vekić had until then managed to stay in rhythm, the tie-break developed in a one-sided direction because Osaka was winning the first shots after serve and quickly taking the initiative. The 7-1 result in the tie-break showed how stable the Japanese tennis player was at the moment when the set was being decided. Vekić was left without room for a comeback because she failed to connect enough high-quality first serves or take control early enough in the exchanges. Osaka thereby gained a psychological advantage that proved important in the continuation of the match.
Vekić looked for a comeback, Osaka kept control
The second set was less dramatic in its closing stages, but not without scoreboard tension. Vekić tried to open the court and force Osaka into additional shots on the move, but the Japanese tennis player most often found solutions with a powerful forehand and a deep backhand. According to official Roland-Garros data, Osaka won the second set 6-4, thereby ending the encounter without dropping a set. That is especially important for her because in the early phase of a Grand Slam tournament, preserving physical freshness often carries great weight, especially on clay where points can be long and conditions demanding.
During the match, Vekić had periods in which she managed to force Osaka into errors, but she did not manage to maintain a high enough conversion rate in the most important moments. Flashscore statistics state that Osaka won 53 percent of the total points, while Vekić remained at 47 percent, confirming that the difference was real, but not huge. According to the same source, Osaka had 28 winners and 33 unforced errors, while Vekić had 27 winners and 32 unforced errors. These data show that the match had an attacking tone on both sides, but that Osaka connected aggression and control better in the key stretches.
Osaka increasingly convincing on the surface that was long her biggest challenge
Naomi Osaka has built a reputation during her career as one of the most dangerous players on hard courts, but Roland-Garros long remained a tournament where she did not achieve results comparable to those in Melbourne and New York. The official Roland-Garros profile recalls that Osaka was the first Japanese tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title and the first to reach No. 1 in the WTA rankings. The same profile states that she is a winner of four Grand Slam titles, with triumphs at the US Open and the Australian Open, but her Paris maximum before this edition had remained the third round. That is why the victory against Vekić also has a broader sporting context: it does not mark only passage into the next round, but also the continuation of a process in which Osaka is trying to expand her effectiveness on clay.
Her return to the top has been followed especially since 2024, when she returned to competition after the birth of her child. Roland-Garros also highlights in its official profile her return to the highest level, including a Grand Slam semifinal at the 2025 US Open. In Paris 2026, Osaka is competing as the 16th player in the WTA rankings and the 16th seed, which shows that she has again stabilized among the players expected in the later stages of major tournaments. In the match against Vekić, that stability was visible in the way she played the tie-break and the closing stage of the second set. There was no need for a spectacular comeback, but for disciplined management of the advantage, which is often the most important sign of competitive maturity.
Vekić ended her campaign after a good start to the tournament
Donna Vekić arrived in Paris as the 72nd player in the WTA rankings, according to data from the official WTA Tour profile. In the first round she defeated Frenchwoman Alice Tubello 6-3, 6-2, thereby securing an attractive duel against Osaka. That result was important because in recent seasons Vekić has gone through changes in form, injuries and major highs, but she has still remained a player who can be dangerous against opponents from the top. Her official WTA profile states that during her career she has won four WTA titles and that her best ranking is No. 17, reached in 2025. The WTA also states that in 2024 she achieved her best Grand Slam result by reaching the Wimbledon semifinal and won the silver Olympic medal in Paris.
Precisely because of that résumé, the defeat to Osaka cannot be reduced to a routine exit. Vekić is a player with experience in big matches, a strong serve and the ability to accelerate play from the baseline, but against Osaka she did not manage to find enough consistency in the key moments. The first set could have changed the direction of the encounter if Vekić had opened the tie-break better, but after losing the decisive game convincingly, Osaka entered the second set with a clearer advantage. Vekić remained competitive, but did not reach the turnaround that would have taken the encounter into a third set. Her Paris campaign thus ended in the second round, while Osaka continues her path in a section of the draw where every next match carries a significantly higher stake.
The next obstacle for Osaka is Iva Jovic
After Osaka’s victory, the WTA announced that the Japanese tennis player will face Iva Jovic in the third round. That information further increases the interest of her draw because Osaka now has an opportunity to equal or surpass her previous Paris maximum. The official Roland-Garros schedule states that the start of third-round singles matches is on the program on 29 May 2026, while the tournament continues until 7 June. For Osaka, the third round will be a test of continuity, especially after an encounter in which she showed that she can win even without an extremely dominant performance in all statistical categories. In the Grand Slam context, such victories often have the same value as convincing results, because they show the ability to adapt to different opponents and conditions.
Osaka has also attracted attention in Paris this year beyond the results themselves, primarily because of striking fashion looks before stepping onto the court. But her victory over Vekić returned the focus to the tennis part of the story. Against a player who has experience of WTA finals, a Grand Slam semifinal and an Olympic final, Osaka found a way to close both sets without additional prolonging of the match. That is an important message for the continuation of the tournament because at Roland-Garros the rhythm accelerates quickly, and the differences between seeds and dangerous challengers in the middle rounds are often very small. If she maintains the level of her serve, the depth of her shots and her calmness in decisive points, Osaka can continue building one of the more notable comeback performances of this year’s tournament.
Roland-Garros in the phase when the draw begins to open up
Roland-Garros 2026 is being played in the main draw from 24 May to 7 June, and the official tournament schedule confirms that the second Grand Slam of the season traditionally takes place on the clay of the Paris complex Stade Roland-Garros. After the first rounds, the women’s tournament is entering a period in which the contenders for the second week begin to separate more clearly. With the victory against Vekić, Osaka placed herself among the players who successfully survived the first major test, while the next matches will show whether her Paris result can grow into something greater than a place in the third round. In her case, the story is especially interesting because it combines the return of a former world No. 1, the search for a better result on clay and increasing stability after fluctuating seasons.
For Vekić, the tournament ended earlier than she would have wished, but her performance in Paris remains part of a broader season in which she will try once again to find the continuity from the best periods of her career. Her ability to win on different surfaces and her experience from big matches remain important assets for the rest of the year. The defeat to Osaka, although in two sets by score, was not a match without opportunities. The nuances decided it, the first-set tie-break and several points in which Osaka had a somewhat clearer plan and more precise execution. At Grand Slam level, it is precisely such details that often separate continuation in the competition from farewell.
Sources:
- User’s original summary – basic information about the sport, competition, stage, participants, venue and brief review used as the starting point of the article
- Roland-Garros – official match record for Donna Vekić against Naomi Osaka, score, duration and court (link)
- WTA Tour – post about Osaka’s victory over Vekić and advancement to the third round against Iva Jovic (link)
- WTA Tour – official profile of Donna Vekić with ranking, career data and results overview (link)
- Roland-Garros – official profile of Naomi Osaka with biographical and career data (link)
- Roland-Garros – official tournament schedule for 2026 (link)
- Flashscore – statistics from the Donna Vekić against Naomi Osaka match, including total points, winners, errors and break-point conversion (link)