Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka dismantled No. 4 seed Elise Mertens 6-2 6-4 in her ‘s-Hertogenbosch debut, while No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula kicked off her comeback with a 6-2 6-2 first-round win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
On Tuesday, 26-year-old Osaka was playing her first grass match since 2019 Wimbledon. And it was quite a return to grass courts for Osaka, who needed just an hour and nine minutes to beat a very tricky opponent and set up a round-of-16 meeting against either Bernarda Pera or Suzan Lamens.
Meanwhile, Pegula took to the court for the first time in exactly two months and everything went well for the top-seeded American, who plays next against Aleksandra Krunic.
How Osaka ousted Mertens?
Early in the first set, Osaka faced two consecutive break points in the third game but managed to save them. After avoiding going down by an early break, Osaka claimed back-to-back breaks in the sixth and eighth games and finished the first set on a four-game run to seal the opener in an impressive way.
After the first set ended with Osaka claiming back-to-back breaks, not a single break point was seen through the opening nine games of the second set as the Japanese held a 5-4 lead.
But then in the 10th…
