Naomi Osaka has made a winning start to her 2025 season after routing qualifier Lina Glushko 6-4 6-4 at the WTA 250 tournament in Auckland.
In her first match of the year, the four-time Grand Slam champion did pretty solid as she was in control of service while creating chances for herself on the return.
In the end, the Japanese fired seven aces and converted three of her seven break point chances en route to getting the job done in in an hour and 25 minutes of play.
For Osaka, this was her Auckland match since 2017.
Also, it was her first meeting against world No. 220 Glushko.
In her next match, the seventh-seeded Japanese faces 470th-ranked Julia Grabher for a place in the quarterfinal.
Naomi Osaka© ASB Classic/X – Fair Use
How Osaka beat Glushko and what she said afterward?
In the third game, the former world No. 1 earned and realized her first break point to go up early.
That break of serve was enough for the No. 7 seed to clinch the first set.
Just like in the first set, the Japanese also broke Glushko in the third game of the second set – but this time – the Israeli instantly managed to get the break back in the following game.
After blowing an early second-set break, Osaka also missed out on two consecutive break points in the fifth game.
However, she didn’t panic and broke the world No. 220 again in the ninth game before serving out for the match in the following game.
Afterward, the four-time Grand Slam winner spoke highly of Glushko.
“I’m really happy to be back. I definitely think she’s an amazing opponent. I had never played her before. It was good to have to scrap for the first round. I had no idea what the score was most of the time,” she said following her win.
Tennis World USA