BRISBANE: Karolina Pliskova gave Naomi Osaka a reality check on her return to tournament tennis by rallying for a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 victory in a high quality second-round clash here at the Brisbane International on Wednesday.
Aryna Sabalenka also reached the last 16, ramping up preparations for her Australian Open title defence with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Lucia Bronzetti.
The Belarusian top seed next faces Zhu Lin who saved a match point to beat Danielle Collins 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(7).
Osaka had eased through her first tour match in 15 months on Monday after taking time out of the game to have a child but former world number one Pliskova proved an altogether tougher prospect.
The contest started well for four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka after she banged down five aces to lock up the opening set in 37 minutes against her rusty-looking opponent, who had received a bye through the first round.
Pliskova found her rhythm in the second set, however, and although Osaka’s rock-solid serve repeatedly got her out of trouble until the tiebreak, she was unable to prevent the Czech from levelling up the contest.
An early break allowed Pliskova to get her nose in front in the deciding set and she saved three break points in the next game to retain her advantage over her 26-year-old rival.
That was as close as Osaka got and Pliskova showed the quality of her own serve to ease into the third round and a clash with third seed Jelena Ostapenko.
Osaka will take plenty of positives out of the contest, not least the 14 aces she pounded down, as she looks ahead to her return to Grand Slam action at the Australian Open, a tournament she won in 2019 and 2021.
“The week is definitely shorter than I wanted it to be, but overall it was a great match and I had a lot of fun,” said Osaka, who converted only two of 12 break point opportunities.
“I saw the stats after and my breakpoints could have been better. But I think other than that, we both played really well. So hopefully she says the same thing.”
Osaka said just being on the court was a “personal win” as she dealt with doubts a couple of weeks ago.
“These two matches I’ve proved that I’m doing okay and the year is just going to get better for me.”
In her first match of the year, Russian-born Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion in 2022, saved three break points in the second set en route to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over local hope Olivia Gadecki.
Rybakina, who will look to improve on last year’s runner-up finish at the Melbourne Park, next faces Belgian Elise Mertens.
In the men’s draw, top seed Holger Rune of Denmark overcame a dip in form midway through his match against Alexander Shevchenko to prevail 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 and reach the quarter-finals.
World number eight Rune recently added Severin Luthi — a long-time mentor to Swiss great Roger Federer — to his coaching team having brought in six-time major winner Boris Becker as coach to boost his quest for a maiden Grand Slam.
Fourth seed Ugo Humbert of France beat American Alex Michelsen 6-4, 6-4 to go through to the last 16. Roman Safiullin of Russia beat Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 6-7(11), 6-4, 7-6(7).
Twice Melbourne Park champion Rafael Nadal plays his second singles match following his comeback from a hip injury when he meets local hope Jason Kubler on Thursday.
The Australian Open runs from Jan. 14-28.
Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2024
