Qatar Open in Doha: Naomi Osaka takes revenge of her Australian Open loss by defeating Caroline Garcia

Former world number one Osaka won just her second match in five since her return last month following a 15-month maternity hiatus.

At the Qatar Open on Monday, Naomi Osaka defeated 15th seed Caroline Garcia in straight sets, putting the first-round loss in Abu Dhabi last week behind her.
After a 15-month break for maternity leave during the tour, Osaka, the former world number one, has won two of her five matches since her return last month.
With this 7-5, 6-4 victory in Doha, the Japanese four-time Grand Slam champion was getting some tiny revenge on Garcia, the Frenchman who had defeated her in the opening round of the Australian Open last month.

She also believes that after having a mother, she is starting to regain her footing. “I think I’ve improved as a player tremendously. My returns weren’t as strong in Australia, and I didn’t feel as concentrated as I do now,” the match winner remarked.

Regarding her physical return after giving birth, she continued, “It’s been an incredibly difficult path.

“I felt like I was chasing myself in the past and it honestly wasn’t really healthy to do.”I feel like I trained fairly rapidly after giving birth, but I’m a huge perfectionist, so it’s difficult when you don’t see results right away.
“I had the impression that I was operating a borrowed vehicle. My body therefore didn’t feel like the one I was used to.”

“I felt like I learnt how to love who I am now via that path. Every morning when I saw my daughter, I knew that I was strong enough to bring her into the world.”
The next stop on Osaka’s comeback tour is a rematch with Croatian Petra Martic.
Although it has been ten years since their first meeting, this is the second time the two have crossed paths. That was in a 2014 Stanford final qualifying round match that Osaka, then 16 years old, won.

On Monday, Garcia won her first 11 service points, so things did not appear good for Osaka. However, while Garcia was serving to tie the set at 5-5, she buckled down and eventually broke her opponent.
After defending against two break points, she finished the set with a love break.
She got the much-needed confidence boost in the final game of the match after being knocked out early the previous week thanks to another break of serve.

“Every time I had a break point opportunity, I was very accurate on my shot,” Garcia stated.
“And I was able to take this opportunity in Australia and today I was not.”It was played on very few points alone, much like in Australia. She played better today, as seen by those points.

Iga Swiatek, the two-time reigning champion, defeated Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-1 to start her quest for a third consecutive title.

“I thought it was a really good match. The world number one remarked, “I felt like I was able to maintain my focus from the start of the game to the finish. After every game, I felt more confident and could even relax a little bit more at the end.”
Sixth seed Marketa Vondrousova advanced as well, defeating Belgian Greet Minnen 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.