(Tokyo) Naomi Osaka, in her first game since the US Open, advanced to the second round of the Pan Pacific Open when Australia’s Daria Savile withdrew with a knee injury in the second game of her match on Tuesday.
Posted at 9:28
Osaka is the defending champion after winning in her hometown of Osaka in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the tournament to be postponed by two years.
“I feel really bad now because of the way it ended, revealing the Japanese to the fans at the Ariake Coliseum. I got injured most of the year, so I just want people to applaud her because she is a really great player.”
Osaka, who led 1-0 after Savile retired, suffered a defeat in the first game in all three of her previous tournaments, including last month’s US Open, although she reached the Miami final in April.
In other matches, sixth seed Karolina Pliskova defeated Bulgarian Isabella Shinnikova 6-2, 6-1. Mexican qualifier Fernanda Contreras Gomez defeated 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. Brazilian Beatrice Haddad Maya, the fifth seed, beat Japan’s Yuki Naito 6-4, 6-2, and China’s Zhang Shuai beat Japan’s Mai Hontama 6-0, 6-3.
All the games were played under a closed roof like the tail of a hurricane Nanmadol He was crossing Tokyo.
World number one and champion in Tokyo four years ago, Pliskova had an easy run against 214th seed Shinnikova.e. The Czech was outplayed by her Bulgarian opponent, who had to qualify for the main draw, and said she is back in shape after an injury earlier in the year.
Pliskova explained: “I missed the start of the season because I broke my arm, so the start of the season was slower, but I feel that in the summer in America I played some very good matches. I reached the quarter-finals in New York … So I think I am in good shape.”
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