French Open: Naomi Osaka survives Iva Jovic scare, reaches R16
What's the story
16th seed Naomi Osaka defeated 17th seed Iva Jovic in a blockbuster French Open 2026 3rd-round match on Saturday. Osaka won the contest in three sets on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Osaka won the 1st set 7-6(7-5) before Jovic came back to seal the 2nd 7-6(7-3). In the deciding set, Osaka kept her nerves to win 6-4. Here are further details and stats.
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Maiden 4th-round appearance on clay at Slam events
Osaka has made her eighth career Grand Slam fourth round. As per Opta, this is the first she made in a surface different than hard court (clay). Before this she reached the 4th round thrice each at Australian and US Open respestively.
Numbers
Osaka is 74-26 at Grand Slams
Osaka, who is a four-time Grand Slam winner, is chasing her maiden crown at Roland Garros. As mentioned, she reached her first 4th round here in Paris. She now owns a win-loss record of 11-7 at the French Open. Overall at Grand Slams, Osaka is now 74-26. Notably, this was her 100th Slam appearance.
Match stats
A look at the match stats
Osaka served 12 aces in the match with her opponent doling out 4. In terms of double faults, Jovic committed four compared to Osaka's 2. Osaka converted 3/6 break points. She also had 46 winners compared to Jovic's 28. Notably, Osaka made 47 unforced errors with Jovic making 34. Osaka had a 79% win on the 1st serve and 51% win on the 2nd.
Information
A unique long battle for Osaka
Osaka and Jovic battled it out in a 2-hour, 58-minute show. As per WTA, it is now the longest match Osaka had played since the third round of Miami 2025, when she edged Hailey Baptiste 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4 in 2 hours and 59 minutes.