(Tennis news) After a tearful exit during her second round loss to Veronika Kudermetova at the BNP Paribas Masters, a match where a spectator heckled her with “Naomi, you suck” comments from the stands, the four time Grand Slam champion made a winning start at the Miami Open after defeating Australian world No 96 Astra Sharma 6-3 6-4 in the first round.
Despite being Japanese, Osaka considers the Miami Open to be her home tournament and displayed a sublime performance at the Hard Rock Stadium court, never giving Sharma any room to breathe while applying constant pressure on her opponent, converting two of 11 breakpoints.
During her post-game interview, Osaka said “This is like my home tournament. Honestly I just didn't want to let anything bother me today no matter what happened. The last match I played was not the greatest memory for me. I just wanted to prove I could come back out here and compete and, no matter if I won or lost, just know I had the best attitude that I could."
The result was Osaka’s 50th career WTA 1000 win and she will now face former World Number 1 Angelique Kerber in the second round.
Meanwhile, 20 year old British tennis player Jack Draper defeated former world No 6 Gilles Simon 7-5 6-1. A year ago, Draper collapsed on the court during the Miami Open due to heat exhaustion against Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin and was forced to retire. Since then, the British tennis player has won three challenger titles and has risen to 146th rank this year.
Watching in the stands was compatriot Emma Raducanu as Draper grabbed the crucial break in the 11th game to take the first set. His 37 year old opponent suffered a foot injury in the second set which was instantly capitalised on by the 20 year old and won the first four games to register his first victory at a Masters 1000 event. Speaking after the match, Draper said “Last year was in the back of my head. I felt I could have done things better but he's very experienced and makes you work hard for the points. I thought I handled the situation very well."
It will be an all British showdown next as Jack Draper will take on Cameron Norrie in the second round of the Miami Open.
Also read: World No 1 Ashleigh Barty announces her shock retirement from tennis
