Naomi Osaka wins Auckland opener

Agency :

No. 7 seed Naomi Osaka of Japan kicked-off her 2025 season by beating Israeli qualifier Lina Glushko 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 25 minutes in the first round of the ASB Classic on Monday in Auckland, New Zealand. Osaka hit seven aces with four double faults and converted 3 of 7 break-point opportunities. Her next opponent will be Austria’s Julia Grabher, who rallied to beat Spaniard Leyre Romero Gormaz 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) with one match point saved in the third-set tiebreaker.

Rebecca Marino of Canada upended No. 4 seed and home favorite Lulu Sun 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. No. 5 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark cruised past Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini 6-2, 6-3, and American eighth seed Katie Volynets outlasted Erika Andreeva of Russia 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-2.

Other first-round winners included Nao Hibino of Japan and Americans Ann Li and Bernarda Pera. Ons Jabeur of Tunisia battled through a first-set tiebreaker before taking down China’s Zheng Saisai 7-6 (5), 6-4 in opening-round action in Australia. The former world No 2 and three-time Grand Slam finalist opened her season by hitting six aces and going 3-for-5 in both saving break points and breaking her opponent’s serve. Her next opponent will be No 14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, who had a first-round bye.

Anastasia Potapova of Russia had a 2-0 third-set lead when opponent Ana Bogdan of Romania retired. Similarly, Ukraine’s Anehlina Kalinina was up 6-4, 2-0 when Chinese opponent Yafan Wang retired. Other winners included China’s Yue Yuan, Romania’s Anca Todoni, Russia’s Polina Kudermetova, Australian Kimberly Birrell and American Peyton Stearns.