The grass court season has fully begun and two players who have returned to the surface for the first time in a while in Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu are through to the second round. The former took down fourth seed Elise Mertens.
Osaka kicked off her grass court season with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Mertens in the first win on grass for the former World No.1 since Wimbledon back in 2019. She had a memorable display last week at the French Open reaching the second round and being the player to push Iga Swiatek the distance.
In a 70 minute win, her strong serving in particular was a highlight in a surface that she has never really thrived on previously. Now Osaka sits at 4-2 over Mertens in terms of head to head. After saving break point in her second service game, she did not face a break point for the rest of the match.
Read also
She won 90% of her first serve points and was also perfect on sealing her own breaks with three against the Mertens serve. She finished the match with 21 winners to 13 unforced errors. The victory saw Osaka avenge a defeat to Mertens at Indian Wells in March.
Whilst Andreescu faced more adversity in moving through. She blew a first set lead going 4-1 up before taking down wildcard Eva Vedsser in three sets. She lost the first set from there. But rallied to come back and win in three. She sealed it 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and in 18 break point attempts, she converted four of them. Yue Yuan is next up and she could face Osaka in the Quarter-Finals.
Yuan was one of multiple winners on Tuesday morning with Emina Bektas taking down Anna Blinkova, the former defeat Diana Shnaider. Whilst Jessica Pegula was an early victor and she will now face Aliaksandra Krunic.
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just In
Popular News
Latest Comments
- I, like writer of this wonderful article, also picked Noskova to win this entire thing. I would love it if she and Andreeva are in the final.Rapunzel12-11-2026
- "Priorities", Saba... spend less time in front of cameras, anti-Social Media, selfies and back to Tennis.
mandoist12-11-2026 - Tell this to Andreeva!mandoist12-11-2026
- Andreeva with 11 games in a row to add to Saba's downward spiral issue !!! Personal feelings aside... Jess Pegula may want to reassess her evaluation of Mirra's abilities.mandoist12-11-2026
- I predicted whenthe list was finalised that Linda Noskova would win the WTA Finals and her matches against Gauff and Kostyuk prove that. She is the best (underrated) player in the world!Rapunzel11-11-2026
- Either Lena has a chronic internal ailment (i.e., colitis, enteritis, Crohn's, or some type of lower abdomen issue) -- or she is once again dealing with 'Vukovitis'. Mental stress can indeed cause lower body pains. No matter... whatever is truly going on sucks. "Virus" excuse is getting a bit old -- and often -- at this point.mandoist09-11-2026
- Ironically, Martina became a U.S. Citizen about the same time as the Orange Convicted Felon & Abuser was just beginning on his road to losing all Daddy's Millions!!mandoist09-11-2026
- "Another fresh start is in the cards." Thanks for the Humor!! I'm guessing this is the minimum one can do to keep all your sponsors hanging-on in perpetuity?mandoist09-11-2026
- Vukov is doing this to Lena... AGAIN!!!!! WTA's autonomous collective should be dismantled for allowing Vukov to re-emerge from his hand-slapping suspension. Just ask WTA employees how that's been going lately as they witness his continued verbal abuses. Women's Pro Tennis should start over.mandoist08-11-2026
- Can't help but suspect Vukov is back to his old self again. Thank you, WTA. Perhaps you can give them a "Battling Couple of the Year Award 2026" ??mandoist08-11-2026
