Qatar Open: Naomi Osaka reaches second round, defeats Garcia

Japanese Naomi Osaka won against Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, the No 15 seed, 7-5, 6-4 to move into the second round of the Qatar Open at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on Monday evening.

It was a modicum of revenge for their last meeting, when Garcia knocked Osaka out of the Australian Open last month.

“Honestly I feel like I’m a much better player now,” Osaka said afterwards. “I think in Australia my returns weren’t as good, and I don’t feel like I was as focused as I am now.

“I think that definitely made a difference, especially against such a good server like she is.”

Naomi Osaka will face Croat Petra Martic next.

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Doha WTA 1000, other first-round results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 3.211.715, most recent results first):

• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Karolina Pliskova: monday
• Xinyu Wang beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (10): 6-1, 6-3
• Linda Noskova beat Bernarda Pera (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Marie Bouzkova vs. Sofia Kenin: monday
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Daria Kasatkina (11): 6-2, 7-6 (2)
• Magda Linette beat Nao Hibino (Q): 6-1, 6-4
• Anastasia Potapova beat Martina Trevisan (LL): 6-4, 6-4
• Petra Martic beat Arantxa Rus: 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Victoria Azarenka beat Magdalena Frech (Q): 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
• Leylah Fernandez beat Liudmila Samsonova (12): 7-5, 7-6 (4)
• Paula Badosa (WC) beat Ashlyn Krueger (Q): 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
• Elise Mertens beat Peyton Stearns: 6-2, 6-3
• Emma Navarro (16) beat Jasmine Paolini: 6-3, 7-5
• Anhelina Kalinina beat Emma Raducanu (WC): 6-0, 7-6 (6)
• Lin Zhu beat Varvara Gracheva: 6-1, 6-1
• Sorana Cirstea beat Sloane Stephens: 6-3, 6-2
• Erika Andreeva (Q) beat Diana Shnaider (Q): 7-6 (2), 6-4
• Greet Minnen (Q) beat Tatjana Maria: 6-1, 6-1
• Danielle Collins (Q) beat Veronika Kudermetova (13): 7-5, 6-3
• Katerina Siniakova beat Donna Vekic: 7-5, 6-1
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) beat Viktoriya Tomova (LL): 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Marta Kostyuk beat Caroline Dolehide: 6-3, 7-5
• Lesia Tsurenko beat Zeynep Sonmez (WC): 7-5, 6-3