Den Bosch: Jessica Pegula victorious in return, Naomi Osaka wins first grass match since 2019

After being sidelined for the entire European clay season with a rib injury, Jessica Pegula made a winning return to action Tuesday in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Wild card Naomi Osaka also shined in her first grass-court match since 2019 Wimbledon.

Pegula, the top seed at the Libema Open, dismissed qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. The 30-year-old capitalized on five of her seven break points, while only dropping serve once to advance after 58 minutes.

“I've been healthy for a few weeks now. If (Roland Garros) had started a week later, I would have been there for sure,” Pegula told WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen.

“I don't think much has really changed. Iga dominated the clay season, what else is new? Now we go into grass and I'm sure the grass-court players will do well. I feel like I'm walking back into the same kind of thing.”

Last year, Pegula produced her strongest result on the surface when she advanced to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. The American led eventual champion Marketa Vondrousova 4-1 in their final set, holding a break point, before the Czech stormed back to win the final five games of the contest.

“I'm going to play two extra weeks on grass now, so hopefully I can do well and make up some points or at least gain confidence and matches there and then be ready to go for the rest of the year,” she said.

Osaka ousted fourth-seeded Elise Mertens, 6-2, 6-4, in 69 minutes. The four-time major winner, currently ranked No. 125, powered past the Belgian with 21 winners (versus 13 unforced errors) and converted all three of her break point chances.

Like Pegula, the former world No. 1 is seeking her first grass-court trophy. Prior to Tuesday, Osaka’s last win on the surface came June 18, 2019 in Birmingham against Maria Sakkari.

All of her 11 previous tour-level final appearances have been on hard courts.