Naomi Osaka’s return to tennis after a prolonged hiatus was short-lived as she was ousted within the first spherical at Indian Wells on Wednesday, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Camila Osorio.
It was Osaka’s first match since harm sidelined her on the Australian Open earlier this yr.
The former world No. 1, now ranked 56th, appeared rusty towards the 52nd-ranked Colombian, struggling along with her groundstrokes beneath the cool desert evening.
Osaka, who has been coping with stomach points, admitted that the rust was to be anticipated after such an extended break.
“There were certain things that felt extremely off because I could only start to practice serving after a certain amount of time,” she stated. “Given the situation, it wasn’t that terrible, but I don’t feel like I played well at all. I had chances to be in the match.”
Osorio, additionally making her personal return from harm, saved Osaka on her toes with quite a lot of drop photographs and slices.
She broke Osaka at 5-4 to take the primary set and by no means appeared again.
The Colombian then broke Osaka once more firstly of the second set, and regardless of Osaka’s battle to interrupt again, Osorio seized management with one other break within the seventh recreation.
Osaka fended off a match level on her serve, however Osorio closed out the match with a forehand winner after saving 4 break factors.
“It’s crazy for me, a dream come true,” stated Osorio, who pulled out of final week’s occasion in Merida on account of an stomach harm. With this win, Osorio turned the primary Colombian girl to defeat a former world No. 1 at Indian Wells.
Osaka, who made her comeback in 2023 after giving delivery to her daughter, Shai, confronted one other setback after reaching her first last since 2022 in Auckland, solely to retire on account of an stomach harm.
In Melbourne, she was compelled to retire from her third-round match with one other pressure.
Despite the loss, Osaka stays optimistic: “It just feels like a little bump in the road. I’ll be back in Miami and hopefully I’ll have way more serve practice under my belt.”
In different notable first-round exits, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was ousted by France’s Varvara Gracheva, who gained 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Gracheva, 24, praised Kvitova’s resilience as a mom and a tennis participant, acknowledging the calls for of balancing each roles.
Meanwhile, in males’s motion, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands triumphed over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 to arrange a second-round conflict with prime seed Alexander Zverev.
Zverev heads a subject lacking world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who’s serving a three-month medicine ban.
China’s Bu Yunchaokete defeated Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-4 and can meet fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev subsequent.
Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori, who almost retired final yr on account of harm, battled previous Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3). Nishikori will face 18th-seeded Ugo Humbert within the second spherical.
Source: www.dailysabah.com