Naomi Osaka eyeing French Open glory after win over Iva Jovic at Roland-Garros - 'The further I get, the calmer I am'

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Four-time Grand-Slam champion Naomi Osaka believes she gets calmer the further she progresses after she reached the fourth round of Roland-Garros for the first time.

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Osaka battled her way into the last 16 of the French Open with a 7-6 6-7 6-4 win over No. 16 seed Iva Jovic.

Osaka dazzled the fans once more with another stunning outfit as she entered Court Suzanne-Lenglen, but was equally classy on court.

In her post-match interview, she said: ”Today, I was a lot calmer than my first few matches. I think in slams, the further I get, the calmer I am.

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”It’s such a privilege to be here and I have never been to the fourth round of Roland-Garros before, so it’s my first time.

”I hope that every year I get better and better.”

Osaka could face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round, should she get past Australia's Daria Kasatkina.

Despite Osaka and Sabalenka having six Grand Slams between them, neither player has won the French Open before.

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How serving was pivotal in tense clash

There was little to split the two players in either of the first two sets as both went to tie-breaks.

Serving dominated throughout the match, with just five breaks of serve in just under three hours.

Osaka pointed to her serving being crucial in this match as she looked to get the upper hand over Jovic, piling on the pressure in the final set to maintain the lead throughout.

She said: ”When I was younger, I didn’t have a good serve. I was a bit of a pusher.

”It’s something that I developed later on and I’m really glad that it was working.

”Against some players you really need to put serves in and she was really aggressive on my second serve, so I definitely felt a lot of pressure.”

Jovic tried to counter with her own serving and it largely worked, looking like the player on top at the end of the second set.

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Thomas Gutteridge, her coach, illustrated how both players were dominating on serve and how the American needed to maintain her level.

Jovic used the kick serve to great effect, with the topspin providing more bounce and speed than normal due to the hot, dry conditions at Roland-Garros.

Gutteridge said, between the second and third sets: ”Shape, intensity, suffocate her. Give her no time. Keep the ball moving, okay?

”I love these kick serves. The topspin serves, they’re getting up on her. She hates returning them.

”She’s hating the body [serves]. It’s jumping so much out here and it’s flying away from her.

”Stay aggressive with those serves, okay? Sometimes it’s too good, you just have to stay compact. You’ve got to take care of your serve. Take care of your serve and your snag one. You’ve been snagging.”

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