Naomi Osaka topples Garcia to return to Australian Open second round
The two-time former champion came through 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 against Garcia and will play No 20 seed Karolina Muchova in the next round
Naomi Osaka, Australian Open, 2025 © Rachel Bach/Shutterstock/SIPA
Former world No 1 Naomi Osaka has reached the second round of the Australian Open for the first time in three years, battling past Caroline Garcia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a rematch of the pair’s opening-round encounter in Melbourne last season.
This time round – and under the watchful eye of new coach Patrick Mouratolgou – it was the former two-time champion who came through in three highly competitive and strikingly symmetrical sets of tennis, as Osaka reversed last year’s result in impressive fashion.
Both players started brightly, but it was Osaka who made the first decisive move, returning excellently to break in the fifth game before striking again in the ninth and final game of the stanza to move into a deserved one-set lead.
Garcia, the current world No 30, responded well at the beginning of the second, earning a break in the opening game on her first break point of the contest and fending off further pressure from Osaka in her next service game. The Frenchwoman then broke again in the ninth game to draw the match level at one set apiece.
But soon after Garcia had forced a deciding set, it was Osaka who then took the initiative, the former champion breaking in the third game of the set, before digging deep in the sixth to fend off three break points.
That missed opportunity to get back on level pegging proved costly for Garcia, with Osaka – for the third consecutive set – finding another break in the ninth and final game, converting a thoroughly impressive win on her second match point.
Deja Vu for osaka as she reverses last year’s result
“I think I’ve grinded on the tour a little bit,” Osaka explained when asked what had changed between now and the pair’s previous encounter on the same court almost exactly twelve months ago.
“But yeah, I feel like it’s a really big coincidence that I’m playing her again. I just tried to do my best and I know we played the night match last time as well, so it felt a little familiar.
“I think being able to play so many matches in New Zealand and then coming here helped. Obviously I had to withdraw from the final because I got injured [in Brisbane], so I didn’t serve too many times before this match but I’m really happy with how it went.”
Referring to the recent devastation caused by wildfires in Los Angeles, which have consumed large swathes of the city, long-time LA resident Osaka paid tribute to the people suffering in her home town.
“I was watching the fire map, and the fire is like three blocks from my house. So I had someone go and get my daughter’s birth certificate and all that.
“Sending all my love to LA. I didn’t know how devastating it could be, I hope everyone is doing well and I’m sending them all my love.”
osaka getting back to her best
Osaka has endured a difficult return to the sport following 18 months out through maternity leave and time taken to protect her mental health.
Despite not making it past the second round of a major across 2024, the four-time Grand Slam champion posted some excellent results and striking performances – not least pushing Iga Swiatek all the way in an epic Roland-Garros encounter last spring.
So far this season, Osaka has looked much closer to that sort of player as she reached a final in Brisbane before dispatching the highly gifted opponent of Garcia today.
She will play another WTA stalwart in Karolina Muchova next, which will provide a different sort of test but one no less challenging.
Should Osaka come through that one, then the former world No 1 will have no reason to feel she cannot make some leading headlines in Melbourne this year.
