Naomi Osaka's Near-Upset of Iga Świątek at French Open Praised by Andy Murray, Fans

The tennis world has been patiently waiting for Naomi Osaka to return to vintage form, and she did just that on Wednesday.

Osaka put forth one of her best performances in three years in a hard-fought loss to world No. 1 Iga Świątek in the second round of the French Open at Roland Garros. Świątek staved off the upset with a 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5 victory. It would've been Osaka's first top-10 win since 2020 and her first win against a top-10 player on a clay court in her career, but she couldn't close things out.

Osaka was playing on the back foot in the first set, falling behind by scores of 3-1 and 4-2 before coming back to take 5-4 and 6-5 leads. However, Świątek managed to force a tiebreaker and dominated from the get-go, earning four straight points before Osaka got on the board and cruising 7-1.

Undeterred, Osaka earned a break point at the start of the second set and was firing on all cylinders from then on. She broke Świątek two more times before taking an easy 6-1 win.

In the third set, the four-time major winner jumped out to a 3-0 lead and had Świątek struggling to keep up. Osaka staved off five break opportunities for Świątek on the third point alone. Unfortunately, Świątek refused to go down easily and proved why she's deserving of the world No. 1 ranking.

Świątek broke Osaka to cut the lead to 5-4 and held serve on the next point to tie things up. Świątek broke her again to take a 6-5 advantage and then quickly ended things on the final point.

Despite the loss, Osaka's brilliance received praise from fans on social media, as well as her peers like British tennis star Andy Murray:

After struggling through the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Osaka took the 2023 season off for maternity leave. Her opening-round victory over Lucia Bronzetti on Sunday was her first win at a major since the 2022 Australian Open.

The 26-year-old was once the most exciting young tennis star, so her performance on Wednesday undoubtedly was a welcome sight for fans of the sport, even in a losing effort.

Świątek will face the winner of Marie Bouzkova vs. Jana Fett in the third round.