Osaka beats Garcia in Qatar to avenge Australian Open loss / Photo: KARIM JAAFAR - AFP
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Osaka beats Garcia in Qatar to avenge Australian Open loss
Naomi Osaka put last week's first round defeat in Abu Dhabi behind her with a straight sets defeat of 15th seed Caroline Garcia at the Qatar Open on Monday.
This was former world number one Osaka's second win from the five matches she has played since returning last month after a 15-month time out on maternity leave from the tour.
The Japanese four-time Grand Slam winner was exacting a small measure of revenge on Garcia with this 7-5, 6-4 success in Doha as it was the French star Garcia who knocked her out in the first round of last month's Australian Open.
Osaka's next assignment on her comeback trail is a second round date with Petra Martic of Croatia.
This is the second time the pair have crossed swords but it comes a decade after their first encounter.
A 16-year-old Osaka prevailed on that occasion, a final qualifying round match at Stanford in 2014.
The omens did not look great for Osaka on Monday as Garcia won her first 11 service points but she knuckled down and finally broke the Spaniard when she was serving for the set to level at 5-5.
She then fended off two break points before wrapping up the set with a love break.
A further break of serve in the last game of the match earned her the pick-me-up win she needed after her early knockout a week ago.
J.Saleh--SF-PST
