Osaka rallies to advance at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Naomi Osaka thought for a few moments after losing a lopsided first set Wednesday, and it gave her the perspective she needed to turn things around and reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2022.

“I just told myself ... if she beats me 6-1, 6-1, then she’s the greatest player ever,” Osaka recalled after her 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 second-round win at the Australian Open over No. 20 Karolina Muchova. “Yeah, I just tried to tell myself to fight.”

That she did, the four-time major winner matching the power that last year’s U.S. Open semifinalist brought to their contest on Kia Arena and finding ways to beat her.

“The score in the first set was very dramatic, but there was key points that I could have maybe won a game here or there. So I kept trying to tell myself that,” Osaka said. “Yeah, just try not to live in the past.”

Reflecting on the past doesn’t always hurt, though. It was a second-round loss to Muchova at the U.S. Open last year served as motivation.

“She crushed me in the U.S. Open when I had my best outfit ever,” Osaka joked in a post-match interview. “I was so disappointed. I was so mad. This was my little revenge.”

Osaka lost in the first round at Melbourne Park last year to Caroline Garcia in Osaka’s comeback from maternity leave, but she avenged that with a first-round victory over Garcia earlier this week.

The two-time Australian Open champion next faces Belinda Bencic, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist who is playing in her first major since the birth of her daughter, Bella, last year.

Both of last year’s women’s finalists were playing at the same time Wednesday afternoon.

Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion, extended her run to 16 wins at Melbourne Park by winning the last five games to beat No. 54-ranked Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-3, 7-5 on Rod Laver Arena.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis