Serena Williams’ bid to win her ninth Miami Open title ended in round one as she was comfortably beaten 6-3 6-2 by Indian Wells champion Naomi Osaka.
Williams, 36, was playing only her fourth match on tour since she returned after giving birth last year. And her lack of match practice showed as she was unable to cope with an opponent playing the best tennis of her career.
Osaka was understandably nervous early on and faced a break point in her opening service game. But she composed herself admirably to hold and went on to produce a superb performance to knock out the 23-time Grand Slam champion and set up a second-round meeting with Elina Svitolina.
The Japanese player, 21, earned the first break of the match in game seven. She unleashed a succession of powerful groundstrokes to draw three errors from Williams and then hit a precise forehand winner to seal it.
Osaka was put under pressure in her next service game but she held on and immediately broke the American again to take the first set 6-3.
In the second set, both players saved break points early on before Osaka conquered Williams’ serve in game four and held in game five to open up a 4-1 lead.
At this point it seemed as if Williams had very little resistance left to offer as, after a comfortable hold apiece, she surrendered her serve again and the set and match belonged to Osaka.
Playing her hero
“I was extremely nervous coming onto the court,” said Osaka in her on-court interview. “Serena is my favourite player so just playing against her was like a dream for me. I’m very grateful that I was able to play her and it’s even better that I was able to win.”
The Japanese star was asked how she was able to put out of her mind any thoughts of her idol Serena being on the other side of the net, but it turns out she had a better method.
Osaka said, “I wanted to impress her. And I wanted to make her say ‘come on’ one time and I think she did so I’m really happy about that.”
It is fairly safe to assume that Williams was impressed by Osaka’s performance, as everyone else watching must also have been. The Japanese player looks better than ever on court and seems in total control of her shots and her mentality. She will be a force to be reckoned with during the rest of 2018 and for many years to come.
