After five years away from Wimbledon, former World No.1 Naomi Osaka had to come through a difficult battle before reclaiming her winning ways on the lawns of London.

Playing the grass-court major for the first time since 2019, Osaka posted a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 victory over 53rd-ranked Diane Parry of France. Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka of Japan needed 1 hour and 32 minutes to hold off Parry and book her spot in the second round.

Wimbledon 2024: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Osaka was down a break on two separate occasions in the third set before squeaking out the victory in her first career meeting with Parry.

"For me, it felt really fun and really stressful at the same time," Osaka said, after her win. "It was fun because the crowd was so engaged. ... It felt like an arena. The match I think was a little up-and-down, but I think overall it was something that I can take a lot away from."

Osaka made her victorious return one day before her daughter's first birthday. "She actually had a really big celebration a week or so ago," Osaka said. "That's one of the things that I didn't want to miss. ... She's going to have, like, a cake and stuff here, but not like a crazy, big event."

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Next up: Osaka will face No.19 seed Emma Navarro of the United States in the second round, which will be their first meeting. Navarro stormed past former Top 15 player Wang Qiang of China 6-0, 6-2 on Monday.

Grass-court growth: Coming into this year, Osaka had only collected four main-draw wins at Wimbledon, her lowest total at any of the four majors. Osaka reached the third round in 2017 and 2018, but lost to Yulia Putintseva in the 2019 first round.

But Osaka, who returned to tour in January after being on maternity leave in 2023, had a solid grass-court showing ahead of this year's Wimbledon. Osaka made the 's-Hertogenbosch quarterfinals three weeks ago before narrowly losing to fellow US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in a third-set tiebreak.

Osaka needed to maintain that form to get past a game Parry, who used her one-handed backhand and slices to good effect in the latter stages of the clash. Parry also had a strong grass-court event ahead of Wimbledon, reaching the Nottingham semifinals three weeks ago.

"I feel like today honestly felt very hectic just because of the way she played," Osaka said. "I had to constantly tell myself to be in control of the point. When she was slicing and stuff, it was a little stressful.

"I feel really relieved to have won this in three sets. I think it will do good for my character development."

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Match moments: On Monday, Osaka dominated the opening set, where she had 11 winners while Parry had none. But the second set was a total reversal, where Parry nearly matched Osaka in winners. Osaka fired 13 unforced errors in the second set to Parry's four.

At 1-1 in the third set, Osaka fought back from 0-40 to deuce, but Parry converted her fourth break point of that game after a long miscue by Osaka. Parry eventually edged ahead 3-1 before Osaka powered back to level footing at 3-3. 

At 4-4, Osaka was in danger, facing two break points, but the former World No.1 found some of her strongest serving of the day to get out of that jam. Osaka eventually held for 5-4 with consecutive backhand winners, forcing Parry to serve to stay in the match.

In that game, Parry was finally let down by her double faults. Three of her 10 double faults came within the last four points, including match point, and Osaka at last found herself in the second round.