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IMAGE: Naomi Osaka hits a shot in her first spherical match in opposition to Sloane Stephens. {Photograph}: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Reuters
Naomi Osaka battled windy situations and an in-form Sloane Stephens to earn a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 first spherical victory at Indian Wells on Thursday.
In a showdown of former US Open champions, Osaka struggled within the first set amid the mighty gusts in her first match since January.
After a lackluster first set, Osaka turned a swap within the second, racing out to a 4-0 lead as her serve and protection all of the sudden improved.
Osaka pounced on a brief ball from Stephens and her swinging backhand volley caught the road to even the match at a set apiece.
Stephens, who received a title in Guadalajara final month, held a 2-0 lead and had break level possibilities for 3-0 within the third however did not convert.
That will show essential as Osaka seized the momentum to take the ultimate six video games, sealing her first profession win over the American when her forehand did not clear the online on match level.
“I have never performed in wind shortly so this was very new to me,” Osaka mentioned in an on-court interview on the Stadium Courtroom.
“I felt like I used to be preventing for my life. I used to be enjoying in opposition to her, I used to be enjoying in opposition to this wind. It was loopy.”
“However I saved considering that she was going by way of the identical circumstances as me, so I simply need to will myself to attempt as onerous as I may.”
A four-time Grand Slam champion, the Japanese former world primary has seen her rating fall to 78 coming into the event after she took a break from tennis after final 12 months’s US Open to prioritise her psychological well being.
Previous to the beginning of the event that she received in 2018, she mentioned she had a brand new perspective on tennis and is ‘at peace with myself’.
Subsequent up for Osaka is a second spherical match in opposition to Veronika Kudermetova.
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