Naomi Osaka made a successful return defeating Tamara Korpatsch at the start of the WTA 500 Brisbane International

Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka (Japan) made a successful return to the court. The 26-year-old Japanese tennis player defeated Tamara Korpatsch (Germany) by 2-0 (6:3, 7:6) in the first round of the WTA 500 Brisbane International tennis tournament. It was also the only match of the women’s program that was able to finish today due to the bad weather in the Australian city.

Naomi Osaka has not played since the tournament in Tokyo in September 2022, but in the past 15 months she has been able to give birth to her first child, who was born in July last year.

Against Tamara Korpatsch, Naomi Osaka made a break at the beginning of the first set, which allowed her to win it in just 38 minutes of play.

The second set was more equal, in which the two tennis players exchanged two breaks each. The Japanese player served to win the match at 5:3 and then had two match points in the tiebreak before having to fend off two break points in turn. On her third chance to close out the match, Naomi Osaka did so, winning the final game by 11-9 points.

In the second round, Naomi Osaka will face former world number one Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic), who enters the first round as the 16th-seeded.