Sloane Stephens of the U.S. performs a shot in her match in opposition to Elise Mertens of Belgium in the course of the Brisbane Worldwide tennis match in Brisbane, Australia, on Jan. 3, 2024.
| Picture Credit score: AP
A loss did not trouble Naomi Osaka on the Brisbane Worldwide as a lot because the missed alternative for extra matches forward of the Australian Open.
The four-time main winner’s first match since changing into a mom resulted in a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 second-round loss Wednesday to three-time Brisbane Worldwide champion Karolina Pliskova.
Osaka received her first match on the elite degree since late 2022 on Monday in straight units in opposition to Tamara Korpatsch.
After that win, she mentioned the beginning in July of her daughter, Shai, and the adjustments to her mindset since changing into a mom had given her a greater perspective on tennis.
A second-round encounter that includes two former No. 1-ranked gamers was a step up in tempo and a greater indication of how Osaka’s preparations are going for the Australian Open, the 12 months’s first Grand Slam occasion, beginning Jan. 14 in Melbourne.
“The week is unquestionably shorter than I wished it to be,” Osaka mentioned. “I really feel like I’m fairly good the place I’m proper now. Even the final time I performed her, I believe I performed higher right now.”
Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic hits a return throughout her ladies’s singles match in opposition to Naomi Osaka of Japan on the Brisbane Worldwide tennis match in Brisbane on January 3, 2024.
| Picture Credit score:
AFP
Osaka received the primary set however Pliskova recovered and fired 16 aces and hit 50 winners, saving 10 of the 12 breakpoint probabilities she confronted and making amends for her 11 double-faults.
“I noticed the stats after and my break factors might have been higher,” Osaka mentioned, “however I believe apart from that we each performed rather well … so hopefully she says the identical factor!”
A former finalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open now ranked thirty ninth, the 31-year-old Pliskova was enjoying for the primary time since September after a left wrist harm curtailed her 2023 season.
“A whole lot of issues to enhance, however a great begin,” mentioned Pliskova, who had her left wrist and hand taped for the opening match of the day on Pat Rafter Area.
She’ll subsequent play third-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, who beat Camila Giorgi 6-1, 6-4.
High seed and defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka had a 6-3, 6-0 win over Lucia Bronzetti and can face Zhu Li, a 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) winner over Danielle Collins, within the Spherical of 16.
Second-seeded Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, had a 6-4, 6-1 win over Olivia Gadecki and can subsequent play No. 13 Elise Mertens, who beat 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
On the boys’s facet, top-seeded Holger Rune beat Alexander Shevchenko 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 within the evening match to advance to a quarterfinal in opposition to Australian qualifier James Duckworth. Fourth-seeded Ugo Humbert had a 6-4, 6-4 win over Alex Michelsen in a first-round match.
Osaka’s subsequent match will probably be an exhibition in Melbourne on Rod Laver Area, the primary courtroom for the Australian Open, subsequent week.
She was completely happy together with her serve in opposition to Pliskova, firing 14 aces and simply two double-faults, and profitable 83% of factors when she bought her first serve into play.
“I’ve educated so onerous since giving beginning, I have to get pleasure from these moments,” Osaka mentioned, including she’s modified her angle to profitable and shedding since changing into a mother. “I do really feel totally different. I imply, after all I really feel unhappy, however the disappointment is me being like, ‘Aww, I want I might have accomplished higher, as a result of I do know I’m spending a lot time away from her (Shai), so I need it to be price it someway.”
Competing in Brisbane proved that each one her observe wasn’t a waste forward of the Australian Open, the place she has received two of her Grand Slam titles.
“For me even stepping on the courtroom is a private win as a result of a few weeks in the past I used to be even doubting if I might play with everybody,” she mentioned. “So I suppose these two matches that I’ve had sort of show to me that I’m doing OK, and the 12 months is simply going to get higher for me.”
