CINCINNATI – Naomi Osaka battled back to take a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over American Coco Gauff and advance into the third round of the WTA Cincinnati Masters.
Top seed Ashleigh Barty moved on as well, bouncing back from a Tokyo Olympic first-round loss to start her pre-US Open campaign with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over Britain’s Heather Watson.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka is playing her first event since the Games, where she went out in the third round.
Gauff had won the pair’s most recent prior match in the third round of the 2020 Australian Open after losing a year earlier at the US Open.
Osaka said the early stage of the match saw her trying various things in her first match outside Tokyo since Roland Garros.
“The first set was an experiment,” Osaka said. “I was trying to see what was going on as I’ve not played that many matches. “I was just examining here and trying to stay calm, trying to keep a level head.”
Osaka said victory means a lot to me, especially coming off Tokyo. She’s not my favorite to play. It’s very straining mentally.
“But this is a win I can definitely congratulate myself for.”
Before the Olympics, Osaka last played at Roland Garros after announcing she would reserve the right to avoid mandatory post-match media conferences, which she said damaged her mental health.
That vow lasted through a first-round stadium interview before she withdrew, going on to also skip Wimbledon.
The issue flared again this week in her first news conference, with a straightforward query causing her to burst into tears before composing herself and getting through the session.
She was calm and composed in her responses to reporters. “I was wondering why was I so affected, I guess, like what made me not want to do media in the first place,” Osaka said according o AFP.
“I’m wondering if I was scared because sometimes I would see headlines of like players losing and then the headline the next day would be like a collapse or they’re not that great anymore.”
Angelique Kerber defeated Elina Svitolina 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 while former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu of Canada lost to Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.
Victoria Azarenka defeated Alison Riske 6-2, 7-5 while fellow former Grand Slam champions Petra Kvitova and Jelena Ostapenko both won.
Kvitova stopped Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-4 while Ostapenko advanced 6-7 (2/7), 5-4 when American Jennifer Brady retired.
Simona Halep pulls out with injury
Simona Halep withdrew from her second-round match at the WTA Cincinnati Masters due to a right thigh injury she suffered at the US Open hardcourt tuneup event.
The fifth seed from Romania was to have faced American Jessica Pegula but pulled out after hurting herself in the previous round in a victory over Poland’s Magda Linette.
“After feeling a sharp pain in my right adductor during the match yesterday, I called the physio and, with heavy taping, was able to carry on and win.” Halep said.
“Unfortunately, a scan this morning showed that I have a small tear in the adductor and, therefore, it would be too risky for me to play this evening.
“I will rest up and do everything I can to be ready for the US Open. To the fans in Cincy, it was beautiful to see you again.”
Pegula earned a walkover into the third round.
Halep is just back on court after another injury in Rome last May that kept her from Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Olympics.
Venus among wildcard entrants for US Open
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams was among the US Open women’s and men’s wildcard selections announced by the US Tennis Association.
The 41-year-old American, a two-time winner in New York who lifted the trophy in 2000 and 2001, will make her 15th consecutive main draw appearance and 23rd all-time start in the Flushing Meadows fortnight.
The former world number one has not missed a Grand Slam since 2013 at Wimbledon but has slid to 112th in the WTA rankings, putting her outside the direct entries into the field for the year’s final Grand Slam tournament, which begins on August 30.
American CoCo Vandeweghe, a 2017 Australian and US Open semi-finalist who ranked as high as ninth in the world, also received a wildcard, as did US teens Hailey Baptiste, Ashlyn Krueger, Caty McNally and Katie Volynets.
Australia’s Storm Sanders was awarded a wildcard in an agreement with Tennis Australia.
On the men’s side, 20-year-old Americans Jenson Brooksby and Brandon Nakashima were joined as wildcards by compatriots Jack Sock, Sam Riffice, Zachary Svajda, Emilio Nava and Ernesto Escobedo plus Australian Max Purcell.
Brooksby reached his first ATP final last month at Newport and reached the Washington semi-finals two weeks ago.
Nakashima was a runner-up in back-to-back events last month at Los Cabos, Mexico and Atlanta.
