It was the second time in a matter of weeks that Swiatek has come back from the brink, following her epic recovery from three championship points down against Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid earlier this month, and the victory extends her unbeaten run at Roland Garros to 16 matches.

The 22-year-old is fast acquiring an almost Nadal-like aura of invincibility on the Parisian clay and yet, for much of her 7-6 (7-1), 1-6, 7-5 victory over Osaka, she appeared as vulnerable as she ever has on the court where three of her four grand slam titles have come.

The key to that paradox was a performance of extraordinary quality and conviction from Osaka, a hard-court specialist for whom clay has hitherto been something of an unsolved mystery. The 26-year-old, who returned to competition at the start of the year after giving birth last summer, has recently shown signs of improvement on the surface, defeating Daria Kasatkina, a former French Open semi-finalist, en route to the last 16 in Rome just over a fortnight ago. 

Yet neither that run, nor the occasional glimpses Osaka has offered of the quality that propelled her to four grand slam titles and the world No 1 ranking, could have prepared Swiatek for the sustained barrage of power tennis that carried Osaka within a whisker of a historic upset. 

“She surprised me, because even she says that she’s not playing the best tennis on clay,” said Swiatek. “I’m not expecting anything before matches, but her shots were really clean and really heavy today, and I think on these courts in Paris, they are faster. It’s probably the fastest clay.

“These clay courts are the most similar to hard courts, and I think she also used that today, and for sure I think she improved her game. But I also felt like she could play really with no pressure, no expectations, and that’s what gave her an extra positive kick, I guess.”

Striking the ball with the deadly power and authority of old, a fist-pumping, thigh-slapping Osaka certainly gave the impression she was enjoying herself. It took her a few games to come to terms with Swiatek’s spin and ability to create angles from central positions. On more than occasion in the early stages, she looked awkward and uncomfortable moving in and out of the corners. But having retrieved an early break, Osaka began to find her range, dominating behind her heavy serve, crushing her returns and balancing aggression with patience in the baseline exchanges.

With the pressure building, Swiatek was obliged to fend off a set point against her serve at 4-5. When she dominated the ensuing tiebreak, however, the natural assumption was that she would go on to stretch her lead in signature fashion. Instead, it was Osaka who began to run away with the contest, winning 11 of the next 13 games to establish a seemingly unassailable lead. 

It might have got even better for Osaka, who drilled a backhand into the net tape with Swiatek stranded as the Pole stood break point down at 1-4 in the decider. It was effectively a match point, given that a double break at that stage would surely have been terminal for the defending champion. But Swiatek held to stay in touch, and at 5-4 Osaka missed another backhand, the time on an actual match point. Two more backhand errors followed, and with parity restored, Swiatek went on to claim another famous victory.

“I cried when I got off the court,” said Osaka. “But then I kind of realised I was watching Iga win this tournament last year and I was pregnant. It was just my dream to be able to play her. When I think of it like that, I think I’m doing pretty well. 

“I am also just trying not to be too hard on myself. I feel like I played her on her better surface. I’m a hard-court kid, so I would love to play her on my surface and see what happens.”

TV cameras also captured pictures of Swiatek in tears as she warmed down afterwards, perhaps unsurprisingly given her emotionally charged appeal to the Parisian public during an on-court interview with Alex Corretja.

“I want to say one thing,” Swiatek told the crowd. “I’m sorry even to bring [it] up. I have huge respect for you guys, and I know that we’re playing basically for you, because this is entertainment, and we’re also earning money because of you. 

“But sometimes under a lot of pressure, when you scream something during the rally or right before the return, it’s really, really hard to be focused. I usually don’t bring this up because I want to be this kind of player that is in the zone and really focused. 

“But guys, this is serious for us, we are fighting our whole lives to be better and better. Sometimes it’s just hard to accept that.

“Please guys, if you can support us between the rallies but not during, that would be really, really amazing.” 

It was an impassioned plea, one that Swiatek later explained was occasioned by a fan who cried out as she lined up a drive volley late in the decider. Yet the reality is that it will take more than a few overexuberant fans to stop her now. 

Swiatek has shown, once again, that she has the mental resilience to cope with even the toughest situations. Everyone who faces the defending champion from here will be aware that the final point is the toughest one to win.

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In a tight contest featuring just a single break of serve, Garcia was outstanding. Bidding to bounce back from the disappointment of last season, when she struggled to build on her title win at the previous year’s WTA Finals, the 30-year-old Frenchwoman blasted 34 winners and staged a serving masterclass. Garcia, who dropped just four points behind her first delivery, clinched victory in an hour and 26 minutes without facing a single break point, firing 13 aces and countless service winners. 

Ranked fourth this time last year but now down to 19th, Garcia looks sets fair for a swift return to the top 10 if she can maintain the level she has found in the early weeks of the season. After a 15-month maternity absence, it is Osaka who has more ground to make up. The 26-year-old’s return has naturally attracted huge interest, and for the most part the former world No 1, two of whose four grand slam titles have come at Melbourne Park, acquitted herself well. Yet it was only last July that she gave birth to her daughter, Shai, and much work lies ahead if she is to regain her former movement and sharpness.

“I think I could have done a little bit more – this is my opinion – from baseline shots,” said Osaka, whose inactivity has seen her ranking slip to 831. “I felt like I was constantly on my back foot and really hesitant. I think it might be because I haven’t played matches in a while. I was a little bit overthinking in my head where to go.

“I have to tell myself, ‘Hey, like, six months ago you were pregnant,’ stuff like that. Of course, there’s a voice in my head that is [saying], ‘Who are you to think you can come back and immediately start winning matches?’ I don’t know. I kind of always expect myself to stand a chance anyways. 

“I guess just being nicer to myself is like a key thing that I learned in my time away. But it is really tough to play a good server and not make too many returns.”

Osaka favours a similar brand of first-strike tennis to Garcia, yet her ability to stand inside the baseline and smoke returns like the Frenchwoman was inevitably limited by her footwork. Half a step slow, she made just 15 of her 37 returns – a statistic that Martina Navratilova felt was indicative of where she stands following her comeback performances in Brisbane, where she defeated Tamara Korpatsch before falling to Karolina Pliskova, and now against Garcia in Melbourne.  

“She couldn’t get to the ball that she wants to hit because she’s not in shape,” Navratilova told the Tennis Channel. “I’m surprised that she got on the tour, that she played this tournament, without clearly being in the top shape that she needs to be, in order to put herself in the position to hit the big, big balls. 

“She was stretched out way too much, and the fact that she never had a break point tells you everything you need to know about that match.”

Barely less impressive than Garcia’s serving performance was that of Coco Gauff, the American fourth seed, who earlier battered down a 123mph delivery in a 6-3, 6-0 win over Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Gauff travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina during the off-season to seek technical guidance on her serve from Andy Roddick, a fellow US Open champion and one of the finest servers of the open era.

“It was a really good two days,” said Gauff, who will play Caroline Dolehide in round two, of her evidently fruitful work with Roddick. “I think that my serve has improved… I don’t think I could have gotten anybody else better to help me with that.

“I want to become a more aggressive server, and I feel like when my serve is on, I’m playing well. I think it was more of a mental switch. You know, just a slight change that we did, just helping me with the toss, being more consistent. I think mentally, when I have the aggressive serving mindset, that’s when I play my best tennis.”

One player who did not find her best tennis was Marketa Vondrousova, the Wimbledon champion and seventh seed. The 24-year-old Czech became the biggest casualty in the women’s draw so far, falling 6-1, 6-2 to Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.

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After a 15-month absence from the tour, Osaka made an impressive comeback at the Brisbane International, surviving a roller-coaster finale to clinch a 6-3, 7-6 (11-9) victory over Tamara Korpatsch of Germany. 

Osaka looked sharp and composed in her first competitive outing since the birth of her daughter Shai last summer, battering 36 winners and saving two set points to thwart an impressive late fightback from Korpatsch, who rallied from a set and 3-5 down to force a tiebreak. It was a trial the former world No 1 welcomed.

“I think it’s better to have harder matches because it will train me for what’s to come,” said Osaka. “Honestly, I’m very proud of myself. I feel like I played at a pretty good level. I think my opponent played really well as well.  

“All I can think of is the consistent nerves that I had. So just getting through that really tough match, and hopefully building on it. I think my next match will be a really good test.”

That test will come against Karolina Pliskova, the Czech 16th seed, whose victory over Osaka in Brisbane three years ago was her third in five meetings with the four-time grand slam champion. It will be a very different challenge to the one posed by Korpatsch, a natural clay-courter whose athletic defensive play and crisp groundstrokes came into their own in the latter stages after Osaka established the upper hand with a performance full of power and authority.

As Osaka served for the match at 5-3, 15-15, Korpatsch offered a clear signal that was not yet done, clipping the line with a ferocious forehand return. Seemingly unsettled, Osaka went on to surrender the game with a pair of wayward backhands. As errors suddenly started to flow from the Japanese star’s racket, Korpatsch began to swing with the untrammelled freedom of a doomed woman granted a reprieve. The German opened up an early lead in the tiebreak with an unanswerable crosscourt backhand, and although Osaka recovered to fashion a pair of match points, her signature forehand betrayed her on each occasion. 

Finishing off a resurgent opponent in such circumstances is fraught with difficulty at the best of times, let alone after a protracted absence from the game, but Osaka showed admirable composure. A fine first serve denied Korpatsch one set point, while an adroit change of direction turned a backhand exchange in her favour on a second. Normal service was thereafter resumed, Osaka sealing victory with a blazing off-forehand. She acknowledged afterwards that motherhood has altered her perspective on the game.

“A part of me felt like Shai was watching me, I wanted to do my best for her,” said Osaka, who greeted fans at courtside with a broad smile as she signed memorabilia and posed for selfies. 

“I guess towards the end, when I was signing autographs, I was more aware of kids. I see them differently now because now I’m a mom, too, and I can picture Shai being that age. 

“I think while I’m playing, I’m aware of it in the sense that I want to be a good role model for my daughter. Other than that, I think I’m pretty much trying to be the same old me.”

The old Osaka, of course, was the finest hard-court player of her generation, a double Australian and US Open champion. It is a lot to live up to but, so far, the 26-year-old is doing just fine.

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“We can reveal exclusively here that Rafa will be back,” Tiley told the Australian broadcaster Nine. “He’s been off for most of the year and, in talking to him over the last few days, he confirmed he will be back, which we’re really excited about, the champion of 2022. That’s awesome.”

Nadal, whose haul of 22 majors includes two Australian Open titles, has not played since January, when he tore a hip flexor muscle during a second-round defeat to Mackenzie McDonald at Melbourne Park. The 37-year-old underwent surgery on the problem in early June, shortly after announcing that he will probably retire after next season, and recently offered a guarded assessment of his future, suggesting he would not be in a position to assess his plans until mid-November.

That stance was echoed by Benito Pérez-Barbadillo, Nadal’s communications manager, who confirmed that, despite Tiley’s statement to the contrary, no date has been set for his client’s comeback.

“I can confirm to you that Rafa is practising, as everyone saw on his last post on Instagram,” Pérez-Barbadillo told Reuters. “But there is no date confirmed, scheduled or programmed yet for his comeback.”

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic has responded to comments made by Nadal about their rivalry last month. In a Spanish television interview, the Spaniard suggested Djokovic would have been frustrated had he not been able to overtake him on the grand slam leaderboard. Nadal won the most recent of his 22 titles at last summer’s French Open, since when Djokovic has won a seventh Wimbledon title, a 10th Australian Open, a third French Open and a fourth US Open crown to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 grand slams.

“For Novak, it is more intense,” Nadal told Movistar+. “To him, it would have been more frustrating not to get [the men’s record]. Maybe that’s why he’s achieved it.”

Djokovic sensibly sidestepped a potential war of words, emphasising his respect for the Spaniard while making it plain that he did not share his rival’s view. 

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and how they interpret someone else in that context,” said Djokovic. “That’s all I can say. Rafa is a great champion, I greatly appreciate and respect him as a champion, as my biggest rival, as a man and a tennis player who has largely participated in shaping my game and the results I have achieved. 

“I have no intention in any way to talk in a negative context about him or Roger Federer, because my respect outweighs perhaps some negative opinions about them. That is his opinion – with which, of course, I do not agree. I have my opinion, but I won’t share it because I don’t want to deepen the topic. There is no need for that at all.”

Nadal aside, Tiley also predicted the return of a trio of former women’s champions at Melbourne Park, with Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki all trailed to appear. Osaka gave birth to her first daughter, Shai, in July, while Kerber announced the birth of her first child, Liana, in February. Wozniacki, meanwhile, reached the fourth round of the US Open after returning to the tour this summer for the first time in three years. 

“We’ll welcome them and their families back to Melbourne with open arms,” said Tiley, “and can’t wait to see what their next chapter brings.”

The Australian Open will be held over 15 days in 024 as part of an effort to reduce the number of late finishes. The problem was epitomised by Andy Murray’s epic five-set win over Thanasi Kokkinakkis this year, which raged for five hours and 45 minutes before finally ending at 4.05am, a situation that Murray branded a “farce”. Tiley is hopeful that, by reducing the number of day matches from three to two, the new Sunday start will guarantee the evening session commences on time.

“We’ve listened to feedback from players and fans and are excited to deliver a solution to minimise late finishes while continuing to provide a fair and equitable schedule on the stadium courts,” said Tiley. “The additional day will achieve this, benefiting scheduling for fans and players alike.”

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“My achilles still isn’t right, so I’ll see you next time,” the former world No 1 wrote on Twitter, shortly after her name appeared on an updated withdrawals’ list published by the tournament.

“Trying to find the positives in a negative situation, so all love,” Osaka later added on Instagram, alongside photos of her undergoing ultrasound treatment and acupuncture on the injury. “But there goes my grass dreams.”

Osaka, who has never been beyond the third round at the All England Club, has not played at Wimbledon since 2019. The 24-year-old withdrew last year to take time away from tennis following the furore caused by her decision to skip media duties at the French Open.

Osaka’s withdrawal comes after she suggested last month that she might not play at Wimbledon in light of the WTA’s decision to strip the event of ranking points in retaliation for the tournament’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players.

“The decision is kind of affecting my mentality going into grass, like I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to go there,” Osaka said following her opening-round defeat to Amanda Anisimova at the French Open. 

“I would love to go just to get some experience on the grass courts, but at the same time, for me, it’s kind of like – I don’t want to say pointless, no pun intended – but I’m the type of player that gets motivated by seeing my ranking go up, stuff like that. I think the intention was really good, but the execution is kind of all over the place.

Osaka, who is ranked 43rd in the world, added: “I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition. I know this isn’t true, right? But my brain just like feels that way. Whenever I think something is like an exhibition, I just can’t go at it 100%.”

The 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, whose name appeared alongside Osaka’s on the list of withdrawals, likewise cited concerns about the absence of ranking points as she returns from the shoulder injury that has kept her out since March of last year. 

“I have decided to withdraw from Wimbledon due to the WTA’s decision to not award ranking points at this year’s Championships,” said Bouchard, who would have needed to use her protected ranking to enter.

“Due to my shoulder surgery, I get a limited number of protected ranking [PR] entries. As much as I love Wimbledon and skipping it makes me sad, using a PR entry at a tournament with no ranking points doesn’t make sense.

“I must choose wisely and use my PR entries at tournaments that will help me get back to where I want to be.”

In Berlin, Belinda Bencic survived an epic match against Maria Sakkari, prevailing 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and seven minutes to reach the final for a second successive year. 

“I thought that was an incredible match,” said Bencic, the eighth seed. “We both kind of pushed really hard, we both didn’t give each other anything. I think it was high quality, of course we held our serves as much as we could, and I really felt like we put on a show.”

Bencic, who lost out to Liudmila Samsonova in the final last year, will play Ons Jabeur on Sunday after the Tunisian top seed saw off French Open finalist Coco Gauff 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Matteo Berrettini, the defending champion, will play Filip Krajinovic of Serbia in the final at Queen’s Club. 

Berrettini, who is aiming to win a second successive title on grass following his victory over Andy Murray in Stuttgart last weekend, came through a rain-delayed match against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-3. The Italian second seed, a finalist at Wimbledon last summer, has won all but one of his past 20 matches on grass. 

“It feels unbelievable, I’m really happy” said Berrettini. “Today was a really tough match, we stopped for the rain, I had a lot of chances, I got broken when I was serving for the first set, windy again today – so really tough to play, but I think I played my best match of the week.”

Krajinovic, meanwhile, who had never won a tour-level match on grass before this week, upset seventh seed Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fifth final of his career. The 30-year-old has lost the previous four.

“It’s just a dream for me,” said the 48th-ranked Krajinovic. “To be honest, I don’t like to play on grass. Every year, I find a way to skip the tournaments, just coming to Wimbledon, losing first round, and for the last 10 years it’s been like that. Maybe it will change, I don’t know. I’ve started to like it, actually, so let’s see how it’s going to go.”

In Halle, Daniil Medvedev is also through to his second grass court final in as many weeks after defeating Oscar Otte of Germany 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Medvedev, who was beaten by Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands in ‘s-Hertogenbosch a week ago, will face Hubert Kurkacz in the final after the Polish fifth seed beat Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4).

“I didn’t play well in Halle last year, so I’m happy that this year I managed to raise my level,” said Medvedev, the world No 1, who lost to Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in the opening round last year.

“As I’ve always said, I love playing on grass, so I’m happy to show to myself that I’m capable of being in the final of one of the greatest tournaments, especially on grass.”

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For Osaka, seeking to unlock the unsolved mystery of clay-court tennis at an event where she has yet to advance beyond the third round, a renewal of hostilities with her Australian Open conqueror would not have been uppermost on any wishlist of early tests. 

Anisimova, meanwhile, who was forced to save two match points in that third-round meeting at Melbourne Park, would likewise have hoped for a less onerous assignment than a former world No 1 and four-time slam champion with a score to settle. 

Anisimova, at 28th in the world the higher-ranked player by 10 places, later admitted to feeling “the stress and the nerves”, and it doubtless did little to allay her misgivings that, in Osaka, she faced an opponent cast in the same powerful mould.

But the American knows her way around a clay court and, while she struggled to hit through her opponent, and suffered more than a few anxious moments, she was the sharper and more consistent of the two when it mattered. In the face of some erratic play from Osaka, including no fewer than eight double faults, it was enough to give the 20-year-old a 7-5, 6-4 victory.

“It was a bit unfortunate, because I wasn’t able to play many matches leading into this tournament,” said Osaka, whose build-up to the tournament was curtailed by an Achilles injury that forced her to withdraw from the Italian Open.

“So there were probably some really bad decisions that I made on certain points, but I think overall I wasn’t too bad.

“I think the difference for me was match play, like I only played two matches on clay this year. I wish I could have played more. I stayed in Europe for longer to be able to prepare for this tournament, so it is a bit disappointing.

“But I’m happy with how my attitude was, because the last match that we played in Australia I think I was getting a bit more upset with myself, so I think I progressed in that part.”

Even before the draw, Osaka was approaching the tournament gingerly. That was partly down to her injury, and partly due to uncertainty about how she would be received after the global media maelstrom that followed her decision to shun press duties last year. So when her coach, Wim Fissette, told her she would be facing Anisimova for a second successive slam, Osaka thought he was joking.

Damp, heavy conditions ensured neither player had much cause for merriment in the early stages. After a flurry of early breaks, however, the contest settled into the kind of first-strike pattern one would expect from two of the most unflinching shot-makers in the women’s game. After 10 games, there was nothing to separate the pair. 

Then came a hint of fallibility from Anisimova, who took a high ball that was perhaps flying long and volleyed it into the bottom of the net, to her evident dismay. She has enjoyed a productive few weeks on the red dirt, however, reaching the last four in Charleston and successive quarter-finals in Madrid and Rome, and with the rhythm of regular competition comes an ability to roll with the punches. Instead it was Osaka, lacking match sharpness, who blinked first, a double fault handing Anisimova a crucial break. The American served out the set to love. 

There were would be more wobbly moments for the American, not least when she made errors off either wing to spurn her first two match points as she served at 40-0 in the final game. But she had stuck doggedly to her front-foot game plan throughout, continuing to blast away even as Osaka tried to tailor her play to the conditions with greater margin and spin, and she was not about to back off now. Once again showing the courage of her convictions, she rifled a backhand winner down the line to seal victory.

“When you see Naomi Osaka in the first round, you don’t think it’s going to be easy,” said Anisimova, who will face Donna Vekic of Croatia in the next round. “The conditions were tough today, because of the rain it was very heavy. So I was kind of expecting her to play that way. But I just was trying to stay aggressive and keep going for my flat shots, because that’s what I thought would help me get the win.”

Barbora Krejcikova, the Czech defending champion, swiftly followed Osaka out of the tournament, defeated 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 by Diane Parry of France. Krejcikova, the second seed, had not played since February after suffering an elbow injury. Despite that lengthy layoff, she showed no initial signs of rust, reeling off eight of the first nine games to lead by a set and a break. 

Parry, a gifted 19-year-old ranked 97th in the world, had merely been caught in the headlights. As she belatedly acclimatised to the occasion, the flowing one-handed backhand that had flown long in the early stages began to land with unerring regularity. At the same time, Krejcikova’s game began to misfire.

As the momentum shifted towards Parry, so the crowd began to turn on the Czech, who ill-advisedly left the court for a lengthy change of attire at the end of the second set and was roundly jeered on her return. Krejcikova nonetheless claimed an early break in the decider, but a run of eight successive points put Parry back on level terms, and the former junior world No 1 was the steadier down the home stretch.

“I expected it was going to be difficult, and it was,” said Krejcikova. “I had to start somewhere, so it’s a pity that it had to be here and I didn’t have any other matches.

“I hit the wall. I just collapsed physically. It was tough, because I didn’t play matches. Usually matches are different than practices, and I tried to prepare the best way I could. For sure, I didn’t want to miss this one.”

While Krejcikova, elbow allowing, will now seek to get more matches under her belt in preparation for the grass-court season, Osaka said she may skip Wimbledon following the WTA’s decision to strip the tournament of ranking points.

“The decision is kind of affecting my mentality going into grass,” said Osaka of the WTA’s response to the ban imposed on Russian and Belarusian players by the All England Club following the Putin regime’s invasion of Ukraine. 

“I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to go there. I would love to go just to get some experience on the grass courts, but like at the same time, for me, it’s kind of like – I don’t want to say pointless, no pun intended – but I’m the type of player that gets motivated by seeing my ranking go, stuff like that. I think the intention was really good, but the execution is kind of all over the place.”

Execution was not a problem for Iga Swiatek, the top seed and red-hot favourite for the title, who claimed her 29th win in a row with a 6-2, 6-0 mauling of Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. But Emma Raducanu, the 12th seed, was made to work hard by Czech qualifier Linda Noskova, battling back from a set down to subdue the 17-year-old girls’ champion 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-1 in a battle spanning more than two and a half hours.

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There was good cause for the Pole’s incredulity. With her emphatic 6-4, 6-0 victory over Osaka, she became only the fourth woman in history to complete the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami. Her predecessors were Stefanie Graf, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka, former world No 1s all. Swiatek will join that elite set too on Monday, displacing the retired Ashleigh Barty as the world’s top-ranked player. If she maintains her current trajectory, it will be a long reign. 

This was Swiatek’s third successive WTA 1000 triumph, following her victories in Doha and Indian Wells. She is unbeaten in 17 matches and has now won each of her last six finals, all in straight sets, conceding a collective total of just 20 games in the process. That’s an average of 1.6 games a set. To say that the 20-year-old is a player for the big occasion would be an understatement. Career landmarks are piling up at such an astonishing rate that she barely has time to take in one feat before another takes its place. Perhaps that is the secret. Swiatek has been riding a wave of momentum that has left little time for reflection. Now the former French Open champion will hope to carry that impetus – and the confidence it has instilled in her – into the European clay-court swing. 

“I learned a lot about myself, that I can keep going and really I don’t need to feel like 100% on points to win matches against great players,” Swiatek said of her extraordinary run in North America. 

“I can trust myself a little bit more right now. I really used that streak to have more confidence and also the ranking, you know. Sometimes I felt earlier that the ranking can push me down a little bit. It felt like baggage on my shoulders. This time I worked through that, and it was much better, and it really inspired me. That’s what I can take from it.”

Osaka, a four-time slam champion and former world No 1, knows what it is to experience such feelings. Her resurgence over the past 10 days, after she was disgracefully heckled by a spectator during a second-round defeat to Veronika Kudermetova in Indian Wells, has been among the stories of the tournament. Set to recover some ground in the rankings after a run that has brought wins over Danielle Collins and, in the semi-finals, the Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, against whom she has long struggled, Osaka has made no secret of her desire to return to No 1. She reiterated that ambition here, albeit not without talking herself around.

“My main goal is to be seeded at French Open now,” said Osaka. “But I think by next year, or by the end of this year, I would love to be top 10. By next year, I would love to be the No 1. Oh, that’s a big statement. Close to – top five. Erase that. Top five. 

“You know what? I’m going to set that goal. Top one, yeah, No 1. It feels kind of good to chase something, and I think that maybe that’s a feeling that I have been missing, like wanting to strive to do better. For me, it’s cool to see where the level of No 1 is, so I can find out if I can reach that.”

For the moment, it looks a little way off. Against Swiatek, the scale of the challenge was laid bare as early as the opening game, a brutal 11-minute affair in which Osaka struck four aces but was still forced to save two break points and negotiate seven deuces as the two women traded huge blows from the baseline. 

It set the tone for another return-of-serve masterclass from Swiatek, who came into the match having broken in over 58% of her return games in Miami and was again in ruthless mood here, winning two-thirds of the points on Osaka’s second serve. The fifth game brought a vital breakthrough for the Pole, a scorching backhand return securing a break that Osaka was never able to retrieve. When Osaka started the second set by missing four first serves in a row from 0-15, allowing her irrepressible opponent to claim a second break, the Japanese player’s challenge quickly began to unravel. 

“I wanted to be in the zone,” said Swiatek, who will delay her start to the clay-court season after withdrawing from Charleston with a minor arm injury. 

“I know I play the best when I don’t even look at the score and treat every point the same way. I had some thoughts that were like flying around my head [at a set and a break] where I thought, ‘Whoa, this is actually possible.’ But I needed to really stay disciplined and not let myself think about that stuff and just be focused on playing. 

“That’s how it went in second set. In the zone, and I’m happy about it. Because it’s the easiest way for me to be dominant and to not let myself distract myself.”

If Swiatek continues in her current vein, self-distraction may just be the best hope the chasing pack have.

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Barely two weeks have passed since Osaka was reduced to tears by a heckler in Indian Wells, where she arrived talking of how she felt at peace with herself and left in a state of emotional turmoil after losing in straight sets to Veronika Kudermetova. After a well-documented period of upheaval in her life that prompted lengthy absences from the tour last year, it was the last thing the former world No 1 needed. Ashleigh Barty’s subsequent retirement only deepened the hope that Osaka, the winner of four grand slam titles but now ranked 77th, could put the episode behind her and set about rescaling the mountain.

There were more tears on Thursday night, but happily not a hint of sadness. As she contemplated the 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Belinda Bencic that moves her into the final of the Miami Open for the first time, Osaka felt a sense of happiness that has not washed over her since last year’s Australian Open, the last time she reached the final weekend at a tournament. It has been a long time coming, too long for a player of Osaka’s rich talent, but her joy was worth the wait as she quietly wept into her towel at courtside after the final point was won. 

“I’m just so grateful right now,” she later wrote on social media, after an emotional on-court interview in which she offered effusive thanks to the crowd. “Cheers to the ups and downs of life for making me appreciate this moment even more.” 

Osaka had come out on the wrong end of her previous four meetings with Bencic, and that trend threatened to continue when the Olympic champion secured an early break by clambering all over Osaka’s second serve to club two consecutive backhand winners. Another break soon followed, and it was not long before Osaka was contemplating her first dropped set of the tournament. Far from discouraging her, however, the setback only reinforced Osaka’s determination to keep pushing. 

“She was just playing really well,” said Oska. “In the second set I just told myself, ‘Listen, if she beats you, someone is going to have to carry you off the court in a stretcher, because you’re going to fight for everything.’”

Fight she did, and as a steady stream of winners flowed from her racket, so Bencic’s level began to drop. The tide began to turn. 

“The momentum definitely shifted a little bit,” said Bencic. “The wind was kind of swirling around. She started to serve better a little bit, and I felt like I couldn’t – also maybe with the wind a little bit – but I didn’t go through my balls so much. You know, they had just a little bit less on.”

It was all the encouragement Osaka needed. After a nip-and-tuck start to the decider, she broke in the fifth game and moved ahead 5-2. Bencic was not quite done, and a break in the eighth game forced Osaka to step up to the line for a second time. This time she made no mistake. A place in the final, where she will face Iga Swiatek after the incoming world No 1 defeated Jessica Pegula 6-2, 7-5, was hers.

Asked afterwards to describe her emotions, Osaka was emphatic.

“Definitely happiness,” she said.”I wanted to go into this tournament and test myself, and I feel like she was probably the best opponent in the world for that. I didn’t have good memories playing against her.  

“So, you know, I’m glad that I was able to get through… it wasn’t really relief, but it was definitely happiness.”

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Osaka, who has struggled with anxiety and depression since winning the first of her four grand slam titles at the US Open in 2018, was targeted by a female spectator after being broken in the opening game of the match. 

“Naomi, you suck!” the woman cried out as Kudermetova, who went on to win 6-0, 6-4, prepared to serve. Osaka, who twice took periods away from the sport last year to focus on her mental health, approached chair umpire Paula Vieira Souza to request the barracker’s removal. 

When Vieira Souza explained that she was unable to identify the offender, Osaka resumed play despite her obvious distress. At the next change of ends, the former world No 1 approached the chair again to ask if she could use the Brazilian official’s microphone to address the crowd. “I’m not going to curse, I don’t curse,” said Osaka. “It’s just weighing on my heart.”

That led in short space to the arrival of Claire Wood, the WTA supervisor, who gently informed the 24-year-old that there was no precedent for such a move, while assuring her the agitator would be removed if it happened again.

Osaka did, however, address the crowd after the match, describing how the incident had put her in mind of the infamous scenes that marred the 2001 tournament, when Serena Williams and her family were subjected to booing and racial abuse.

“I just wanted to say thank you, I feel like I’ve cried enough on camera,” said Osaka, visibly battling to maintain her composure. 

“To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before, it didn’t really bother me. But being heckled here? Like, I watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here – if you’ve never watched it, you should watch it – and I don’t know why, but it went into my head and it got replayed a lot. I’m trying not to cry.”

The episode in question occurred after Venus Williams withdrew from her 2001 semi-final against Serena minutes before she was due to go on court. Elena Dementieva, the Russian beaten by Venus in the previous round, had publicly suggested that the outcome of matches between the two sisters was determined by their father, Richard, and the insinuation seemed to take root among locals. Serena was jeered throughout her final victory over Kim Clijsters, while Venus and Richard were the target of alleged racial slurs in the stands. Serena boycotted the event for the next 14 years, while Venus did not return until 2016.

Osaka, who came through in three sets against Sloane Stephens in the previous round, was playing only her third event since last September’s US Open. Currently ranked 78th, she was granted a wildcard to compete at Indian Wells, where she won the title four years ago. 

Osaka remained quietly determined throughout, urging herself on with understated fist pumps as she fought in vain to repel a ferocious onslaught from Kudermetova, the 21st seed. But while the former champion improved markedly after a one-sided opening set in which she won just 30% of her service points, the big-hitting Russian ran out a worthy winner.

“I didn’t hear what the lady said, because I was really so focused on my game, on my service game,” said Kudermetova, who will play Marie Bouzkova in round three after the Czech qualifier beat Jessica Pegula, the 14th seed, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0. “I didn’t understand what she said. But after that moment, I saw that Naomi, she started to cry. I didn’t understand what was happening.”

Osaka did not address the press afterwards.

The controversy overshadowed the earlier defeat of Aryna Sabalenka, the tournament’s highest seed following the withdrawal of world No 2 Barbora Krejcikova. Sabalenka, the world No 3, was beaten 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 by Jasmine Paolini of Italy.

“I’m really happy,” said the 46th-ranked Paolini following the first top-10 win of her career. “I played an amazing match. I tried to be there, to be focused, [on] every point. I’m so happy I beat Sabalenka, she’s a great player.”

Leylah Fernandez saved four match points against Amanda Anisimova to set up a third-round meeting with Shelby Rogers. The US Open finalist, who won in Monterrey last week, recovered from 5-3 down in the second set to level the contest at 2-6, 7-6 (7-0) before Anisimova retired with illness.

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That argument was quickly rendered redundant following Barty’s imperious return to the tour, which was closely followed by the mental health struggles that led Osaka to miss several months of the season, but a projected fourth-round meeting between the Australian Open title favourites was nonetheless eagerly anticipated.

Sometimes, however, plans change. Barty upheld her side of the deal by brushing aside Italy’s Camila Giorgi in straight sets. But Osaka, the defending champion, was dethroned 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-5) by the unseeded American Amanda Anisimova, who fought back from two match points down to deny the event’s beleaguered organisers the marquee weekend showdown they craved.

While the two-time champion’s disappointment was evident, she expressed pride about both her performance and the mental turnaround she has achieved since her tearful defeat to Leylah Fernandez at the US Open, following which she announced she would take an indefinite break from the game.

“I fought for every point and I can’t be sad about that,” said Osaka, whose appetite for the fray was as evident in her repeated fist pumps and self-exhortations as it was in her ferocious groundstrokes and serves.

“I’m not God. I can’t win every match. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s really special. I can’t think of myself trying to win the grand slam at the start of the year every time.  

“For me, I feel like I grew a lot in this match. The last match that I played in New York, I think I had a completely different attitude. So I’m really happy – of course I lost, but I’m happy with how it went.”

Osaka, who marked her return to the sport with a semi-final run at the Melbourne Summer Set, said she would probably shun social media for a while. Yet she was full of praise for her young opponent – “I’m excited to see where her game takes her” – and had sufficient perspective to see the result not simply as a personal setback but also as a signpost for the future of the game.

“To me, it’s exciting,” said Osaka. “Not the loss itself, but the person I lost to, because it’s showing the growth of tennis. I feel like now I’m in this position where if I lose to someone, it might make a headline, but I also think it kind of grows more superstars, and I feel like that’s good for the game.”

Anisimova, who slowly reeled in Osaka with her low, bludgeoning groundstrokes, has form for an upset that predates her straight-sets win over Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the previous round. Two and a half years ago, when she was just 17, the American stunned defending champion Simona Halep at Roland Garros to become the youngest semi-finalist in Paris for 13 years.

Just as her stock was rising, however, her world was split asunder by the sudden death of her father, Konstantin. It has been a long road back from that personal nadir but, after winning the second title of her career in Melbourne 12 days ago, she is once again posting the results of which she is capable. 

“Last year was a huge struggle for me,” said Anisimova, 20, who is now ranked 60th after reaching a career high of 21st a little over two years ago. “I really wanted to be having these moments again.

“[Osaka] has a really big game, so I knew that I had to step it up and try to be as aggressive as I could. I don’t know if I did that so well today, because in most of the moments I feel like she was more aggressive. I think my serve is what really helped me today.”

In Barty, Anisimova will face familiar opposition. It was the Queenslander who eventually ended her breakthrough run at the French Open, where she stood within three games of the final at a set and 3-0 up. For Barty, who went on to win the match and the title, it was a pivotal victory.

“I learned a lot from that moment,” Barty recalled following her 6-2, 6-3 win over Giorgi. “That was a turning point in my career, and you have to be able to take learnings from those moments, as hard as they are sometimes. 

“I was able to navigate and find a way through, which at that point in my life, in my career, was a massive turning point. It feels like it’s a lifetime ago, but some of those memories are still really vivid. Without a doubt we will take that and use that experience, use those feelings and those emotions as best we can come Sunday.”

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