Wimbledon 2024: Osaka battles past Parry; top 10 seeds Sakkari, Paolini advance

Returning to Wimbledon after a gap of five years former World No1 Naomi Osaka came through a difficult battle before reclaiming her winning ways on the lawns of London as she got the better of the 53rdranked Diane Parry of France in the first round of womens singles here on MondayTop 10 players Maria Sakkari and Jasmine Paolini also kicked off their campaigns with firstround straightsets wins on Monday But Zheng Qinwen was the first Top 10 player to suffer a defeat this fortnight losing to qualifier Lulu Sun of New ZealandPlaying the grasscourt major for the first time since 2019 Osaka posted a 61 16 64 victory over Parry Fourtime Grand Slam champion Osaka of Japan needed 1 hour and 32 minutes to hold off Parry and book her spot in the second roundOsaka was down a break on two separate occasions in the third set before squeaking out the victory in her first career meeting with former topranked junior Parry Osaka made her winning return one day before her daughters first birthdayAlso ReadEuro 2024 Jan Vertonghens late own goal sends France into quarterfinalsOsaka will have to wait until the end of the day to find out who her secondround opponent will be She will meet the winner of the clash between No19 seed Emma Navarro of the United States and former Top 15 player Wang Qiang of ChinaComing into this year Osaka had only collected four maindraw wins at Wimbledon her lowest total at any of the four majors Osaka reached the third round in 2017 and 2018 but lost to Yulia Putintseva in the 2019 first roundBut Osaka who returned to tour in January after being on maternity leave in 2023 had a solid grasscourt showing ahead of this years Wimbledon Osaka made the sHertogenbosch quarterfinals three weeks ago before narrowly losing to fellow US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in a thirdset tiebreakWorld No123 Sun collected a 46 62 64 victory over No8 seed Zheng this years Australian Open runnerup Sun took 1 hour and 57 minutes to fight back from the loss of the first set and clinch a spot in the second roundIt was a breakthrough victory for Sun in many ways Not only was it the first Top 10 win of her career it was her first win over a player ranked inside the Top 50 This was also her first Grand Slam maindraw victory in just her second major maindraw appearanceAdditionally Sun was nearly eliminated in qualifying last week She had to save a match point in the second round of qualies before defeating Gabriela Knutson in a finalset 10point tiebreak The 23yearold Sun is the first woman representing New Zealand to reach the second round of a Grand Slam since Marina Erakovics run to the Wimbledon third round in 2016Earlier No9 seed Sakkari of Greece clinched her spot in the second round with a 63 61 victory over American qualifier McCartney Kessler Sakkari needed 1 hour and 11 minutes to oust World No119 KesslerIt was an important Grand Slam victory for Sakkari The Greek has already won 20 matches at the tour level this year but she had lost in the first round at four of the last five Grand Slam eventsSakkari is now a win away from making the third round of a Slam for the first time since the 2023 Australian Open Her next opponent is Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands who reached the second round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2012 by beating Yuan Yue 62 63In another match No7 seed Paolini of Italy posted her firstever maindraw victory at Wimbledon by defeating Spains Sara Sorribes Tormo 75 63Roland Garros runnerup Paolini had lost in the first round of Wimbledon the last three years running but she broke that duck by toppling 55thranked Sorribes Tormo in 1 hour and 37 minutesComing into this year Paolini had never won a maindraw match at any grasscourt event on the Hologic WTA Tour But the Italian carried her Roland Garros momentum into Eastbourne last week where she won two matches on grass before falling to eventual champion Daria KasatkinaIn Mondays match Paolini ground out a nearly hourlong first set then built a 40 lead in the second set Sorribes Tormo battled back on serve at 43 aiming to deny Paolini a maiden victory in London but Paolini regrouped to win the next two games and advancePaolinis next grasscourt challenger will be Greet Minnen of Belgium after World No80 Minnen ousted British hope Heather Watson 75 64 on Monday It will be the first meeting between Paolini and MinnenThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever