Former world No 1 Naomi Osaka avenged her first-round defeat to Caroline Garcia on the Australian Open by beating the French world No 21 in straight units within the opening spherical of the Qatar Open.
Osaka, who returned to motion in Melbourne simply six months after giving start, snapped a three-game dropping streak to triumph 7-5 6-4. She’s going to play Croatia’s Petra Martic within the subsequent spherical.
Garcia defeated Osaka 6-4 7-6 (7-2) on the Australian Open lower than a month in the past and regarded poised for one more spectacular victory when she broke serve within the fifth recreation within the first set.
Osaka trailed Garcia 5-3 earlier than turning the tables on the previous world No 4, saving seven of eight break factors. The four-time Grand Slam winner caught hearth from there, reeling off 5 straight video games to take the opening set.
Osaka earned yet another break of serve within the match, in what proved to be the ultimate recreation, to shut out the win.
Up subsequent, she faces one other highly effective server in Martic, who survived a third-set tie-breaker to defeat Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-5). Osaka gained her solely earlier encounter with Martic, 10 years in the past.
“It was really tough today, but I also felt really inspired because I haven’t been here in a while, and just to see everyone out here,” Osaka mentioned on court docket after her win. “I saw a lot of Haitian and Japanese flags. It means a lot to me and it’s really nice to play in front of everyone.”
‘I struggled with all the pieces!’ – Raducanu knocked out of Qatar Open
Emma Raducanu paid the worth for a sluggish begin as she suffered a disappointing 6-0 7-6 defeat to Anhelina Kalinina within the first spherical of the Qatar Open.
The Brit was fully out of kinds in a primary set that lasted simply 22 minutes, however drastically improved her stage in a much more aggressive second.
Raducanu confirmed nice spirit to avoid wasting two match factors with Kalinina serving to seal the competition at 6-5, however would then miss a set level probability of her personal within the tie-break earlier than finally dropping it 8-6.
It is the primary time within the 4 tournaments that Raducanu has performed since making her comeback in January after eight months out injured that the 21-year-old has made an opening-round exit.
“I think I was struggling with everything, serve, return, forehand, backhand,” Raducanu informed Sky Sports activities.
“To be sincere I felt like I by no means actually bought into it. I believe it was a mixture of issues. It is like my first day match I believe I’ve performed in a yr, in order that’s completely different.
“Honestly, I think I need to practice training outside a bit more because it’s very different and also the light, conditions, shadows – it’s really hard to kind of see the ball, I found towards the end.
“When the tennis is not there, you need to not less than attempt to combat and I believe I did that within the second set.”
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