Sabalenka beats Osaka in first Roland Garros women’s night match since 2023

Aryna Sabalenka survived Naomi Osaka’s early push and turned Court Philippe-Chatrier into a stage for her power game, beating the former world No. 1, 7-5, 6-3, in the first women’s night-session match at Roland Garros since June 2023. The match began at about 8:15 p.m. local time and lasted 1 hour and 27 minutes, with Sabalenka closing on her first match point.

Osaka briefly looked ready to drag the contest off Sabalenka’s terms, racing to a 2-0 lead after a Sabalenka double fault. Sabalenka answered immediately, broke back, and gradually tightened her grip on the opening set with heavy returning and a cleaner finish at the net. By the second set, Osaka could not hold the same level, and Sabalenka’s depth and pace kept forcing the points to her racquet. Sabalenka finished with 12 aces and 39 winners, then marked the occasion with a Moon Walk celebration for the Chatrier crowd.

The victory extended a remarkable run for the world No. 1, who reached her 14th straight Grand Slam quarter-final and remained the only Grand Slam champion left in either singles draw in Paris. That distinction gives Sabalenka both leverage and pressure in a women’s field that has already been thinned by the exits of Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina. In the context of a clay major that has often rewarded patience over force, Sabalenka’s ability to recover from a shaky start and finish with authority looked like the clearest evidence yet that she may have found a more complete version of her game.

Osaka, ranked No. 16, was playing the Roland Garros fourth round for the first time and arrived in a gold bomber jacket over a gold sequin outfit with a tiered train, adding to the sense of occasion around a rare night setting for women’s tennis in Paris. Sabalenka, meanwhile, said she was “super happy with my serve” and added, “I didn’t expect that I would be serving that great.” She said she was getting better with every match, a warning for the rest of the draw as she advanced to meet Diana Shnaider, who earlier claimed her first Grand Slam quarter-final by beating Madison Keys, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.