The 16th-seeded Caroline Garcia (France) qualified for the second round of the Australian Open after defeating Naomi Osaka (Japan) by 2-0 (6:4, 7:6) in an hour and a half of play.
Naomi Osaka, a former world’s number one, gave birth to daughter last July and returned from maternity leave in Brisbane last week, only to be knocked out in the second round by Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic). And while in the second round of the Australian Open in 2021, the Japanese player eliminated Garcia on the way to her second title, today the roles were reversed. The French tennis player pressed for a strong serve that Naomi Osaka had no answer for, allowing 10 aces to turn into points.
A former world’s No 4, Caroline Garcia will face Magdalena Frech (Poland) in the second round.
Meanwhile, the 15th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) is out of the tournament after losing to Viktorija Golubic (Switzerland) by 1-2 (6:7, 6:1, 1:6), while the 25th-seeded Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine) was also knocked out after losing to Arantxa Rus (Netherlands ) by 0-2 (1:6, 0:6).
In the other matches from the day, Paula Badosa (Spain) defeated Taylor Townsend (USA) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:3) and Anna Kalinskaya (Ukraine) eliminated Katie Volynets (USA) by 2-1 (6:3, 3:6, 6:2).
