Japan's in-form Uchijima qualifies for Roland Garros main draw
Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima will look to take her ITF World Tennis Tour form into the Grand Slam arena after successfully navigating qualifying and setting up her Roland Garros main draw debut.
Uchijima defeated Raluca Georgiana Serban of Cyprus 7-5 6-4 in the final round of qualifying after beating Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi and former junior world No. 1 Petra Marcinko of Croatia in earlier rounds.
The 22-year-old will now rub shoulders with the finest players on the planet and bid to take another significant stride in her career – winning her first main draw match at a Grand Slam.
Uchijima's only previous main draw experience came at the 2023 Australian Open as a wild card where she lost to Bernarda Pera of the United States in the first round. In total, she has lost in qualifying on seven occasions.
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Uchijima’s advance to the Roland Garros main draw has followed a remarkable run on the ITF World Tennis Tour during which she has claimed three consecutive titles – taking her tally for the season to five.
Indeed, her victory at W100 Madrid on Sunday was not only her third successive title but also her third at W100 level – the highest classification of ITF World Tennis Tour Women’s event – in six weeks.
Uchijima, who began the year outside the world’s top 170, rocketed 30 spots to a career-high No. 80 following her win in Madrid, while she has now chalked up 18 straight match-wins.
Uchijima could also be in line for a place at the Olympic Tennis event, with the direct acceptance cut off for Paris 2024 on 10 June. All eyes then on Roland Garros.
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Among the other qualifiers for the Roland Garros main draw is Croatia’s Lucija Ciric Bagaric, who was named ITF World Tennis Tour Player of the Month for February after lifting silverware at two tournaments.
The second of those took her season’s tally to three, while the Dubrovnik-born 20-year-old has since won a fourth title of the campaign at W35 Alaminos-Larnaca. All four of her titles this season have come at W35 level.
Her passage to the Roland Garros main draw was sealed following a 7-6(5) 6-1 victory over Japan’s Sara Saito, a former junior world No. 2. World No. 185 Ciric Bagaric also dispatched Australia’s Arina Rodionova and Canada’s Rebecca Marino in qualifying.