Australian Open: Osaka comes from behind to exact revenge on Muchova
Naomi Osaka won against Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 on Wednesday and will face Swiss Belinda Bencic in the next round
Japanese Naomi Osaka beat No 20 seed Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 to reach the third round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
The victory sees Osaka through to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since returning to the WTA tour after giving birth to her daughter in 2023.
“Honestly it took everything. I felt like I left everything on the court,” said Osaka of her victory over Muchova, who beat her 6-3, 7-6(5) at the US Open last August.
“Last year was really tough for me, I felt like I could have done better. I’m glad I’m going to be able to play another round.
“It means a lot. She’s an incredibly difficult opponent for me to play. She crushed me in the US Open when I had my best outfit ever, I was so disappointed, I was so mad.
“This was my little revenge. It’s not a bad thing – revenge is competitive, you guys!”
Osaka, ranked No 51, will face Swiss Belinda Bencic next.
Ahead of her victory, the Japanese won against Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia (6-3, 3-6, 6-3).
Muchova, ranked No 20, defeated Argentinian Nadia Podoroska (6-1, 6-1) in the previous round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2025 season.
Melbourne (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):
- Rebecca Sramkova vs. Iga Swiatek
- Emma Raducanu vs. Amanda Anisimova
- Jaqueline Cristian vs. Lucia Bronzetti
- Eva Lys vs. Varvara Gracheva
- Yafan Wang vs. Daria Kasatkina
- Yulia Putintseva vs. Shuai Zhang
- Ons Jabeur vs. Camila Osorio
- Emma Navarro vs. Xiyu Wang
- Renata Zarazua vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Elina Svitolina vs. Caroline Dolehide
- Veronika Kudermetova vs. Katie Boulter
- Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Erika Andreeva
- Destanee Aiava vs. Danielle Collins
- Madison Keys vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse
- Danka Kovinic vs. Dayana Yastremska
- Elena Rybakina vs. Iva Jovic
- Paula Badosa vs. Talia Gibson
- Coco Gauff vs. Jodie Burrage
- Jule Niemeier vs. Marta Kostyuk
- Harriet Dart vs. Donna Vekic
- Diana Shnaider vs. Ajla Tomljanovic
- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Anastasia Potapova
- Cristina Bucsa vs. Leylah Fernandez: wednesday
- Belinda Bencic beat Suzan Lamens: 6-1, 7-6 (3)
- Jessica Pegula (7) beat Elise Mertens: 6-4, 6-2
- Olga Danilovic beat Liudmila Samsonova (25): 6-1, 6-2
- Mirra Andreeva (14) beat Moyuka Uchijima: 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8)
- Magdalena Frech (23) beat Anna Blinkova: 0-6, 6-0, 6-2
- Clara Tauson beat Tatjana Maria: 6-2, 6-2
- Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro: 6-3, 7-5
- Laura Siegemund beat Qinwen Zheng (5): 7-6 (3), 6-3