WTA Indian Wells: Naomi Osaka cruises past Sara Errani, Caroline Wozniacki beats Zhu Lin, Venus Williams out
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Published 08/03/2024 at 11:45 GMT
It was a good day at the office for Naomi Osaka, who was made to sweat at times by Sara Errani, but ultimately booked her place in round two with relative comfort. Caroline Wozniacki overcame the frustration of a rain delay to beat Chinese Zhu Lin in straight sets. However, it was a day to forget for Venus Williams, after she was defeated in three sets by Japanese qualifier Nao Hibino.
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Naomi Osaka cruised past Sara Errani with a 6-3 6-1 victory to reach the second round at Indian Wells, marking her 50th WTA 1000 win on a hard court.
The 26-year-old claimed her fourth win since returning from her maternity, and will now face Liudmila Samsonova on Saturday.
Despite the comprehensive nature of the defeat, Errani was left to rue several missed chances to make the match more keenly-contested.
She broke Osaka first, but could not seize the advantage as the Japanese hit back immediately amid four consecutive games without a service hold.
The 36-year-old was a point away from moving 4-2 up in the first set, but Osaka would eventually prevail to level the scores at 3-3 with a brilliant forehand.
Momentum was turning Osaka’s way when she staved off two break points and penetrated Errani’s serve again to move 5-3 ahead, before closing out the opening set after 38 minutes.
Errani fought off four break points herself to move 1-0 ahead in the second set, but missed out on a chance to go 2-0 ahead as Osaka was cool under pressure to claim an important hold.
The four-time Grand Slam winner stepped up a gear from that point onwards and broke Errani three more times to comfortably book her place in round two.
Meanwhile, Venus Williams was knocked out in the first round after losing 6-2 3-6 0-6 to Japanese qualifier Nao Hibino.
Hibino showed impressive resilience to recover from a chastening first set and claim victory.
Williams had a 3-2 lead in the second set, but the 29-year-old provided an emphatic response to break Williams twice to restore parity.
She then managed to win the third set with a remarkable bagel, winning 10 consecutive games in the process to seal a memorable win.
Hibino's reward is a second-round match against 17th seed Veronika Kudermetova.
It was a different story for another former world No. 1 as Caroline Wozniacki booked her place in round two with a 7-6(6) 6-1 win over China's Zhu Lin.
The Dane was made to toil in a captivating first set after overcoming a 2-0 deficit to move 4-2 ahead, but Zhu refused to lie down after she swatted away a set point with the score at 6-5.
Wozniacki would eventually take the opener after an hour and 15 minutes, winning the tie-break 8-6 before the rain came rolling in.
The match resumed on Thursday afternoon in what was a much more straightforward affair for the 2018 Australian Open champion, breaking the Chinese's serve three more times to clinch the second set 6-1 and seal a second-round place.
She can now look forward to a clash against Donna Vekic later on Friday.
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