Osaka Survives First-round Scare In Miami

Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka rallied to beat Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 yesterday to reach the second round of the Miami Open.

The Japanese star captured her first match win since she reached the third round of the Australian Open – where she retired with an abdominal injury while trailing Belinda Bencic.

Osaka bounced back from a first-round loss to Camila Osorio at Indian Wells, a match she called the “worst match I’ve ever played in my life”.

She said she’d learned from that disappointing performance.

“(In Indian Wells) I was just over-hitting a lot, so I tried to use my legs,” she said in her on-court interview.

“I was going to run into every corner if I had to, and we were going to have to play for three hours if she was going to beat me.”

In fact, Osaka polished off the victory in two hours and 28 minutes, battling back after dropping the first five games.

Starodubtseva led 4-2 in the second set, but Osaka’s 10 aces helped her recover and she was in control in the third set to launch her bid for a first title in the city she considers her US home. She was runner-up to Iga Swiatek in 2022 in her best Miami Open finish.

Osaka next faces 24th seed Liudmila Samsonova. The 27-year-old is still trying to return to peak form after returning from a 15-month break last year after giving birth to daughter Shai in 2023.

Her year got off to a promising start when she reached her first final since 2022 in Auckland, but she withdrew with an abdominal injury while leading that match and was later forced out in Melbourne.