SWEET REVENGE
Naomi turns tables on Kristina, Venus rallies for upset
WORLD No 1 Naomi Osaka launched her Indian Wells WTA title defence with a 63, 6-4 victory in a grudge match against Kristina Mladenovic on Saturday.
Naomi, whose second straight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January propelled her to the top of the rankings, was beaten by 65th-ranked Kristina in Dubai last month in her first match since she lifted the trophy in Melbourne.
Keen to avoid a repeat, Naomi marched through the opening set in 38 minutes, but she hit a speed bump as she was broken when serving for the match at 5-2 in the second.
After Kristina held serve to narrow the deficit to 5-4, the Japanese player faced another break point before wrapping up the match after one hour and 21 minutes.
“The last time I played her I lost, so anything’s a bonus,” Naomi said, adding that she felt a few butterflies before opening the first title defense of her career.
Her surprise triumph at Indian Wells last year launched a 2018 campaign that would eventually include her first Grand Slam crown at the US Open.
“I’ve never been a defending champion before, that’s new and I was really nervous,” said Naomi, who booked a third-round meeting with American Danielle Collins, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Kirsten Flipkens.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams pulled off the upset of the day, rallying from a set and two breaks down to topple third-seeded Petra Kvitova 46, 7-5, 6-4.
“I just fought and tried my hardest,” said Venus, currently ranked 36th in the world.
“A double break is not ideal against a great server, especially a left-handed server,” Venus said, adding that the secret to coming back was “just being in the moment.”
“I think I created some opportunities. I had some good points. I think she had a few tight points, and here we are.”
She booked a third-round clash with fellow American Christina McHale, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winner over 30th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
“It was such a weird match,” Petra said, calling it her worst of the year. “I took the first set. Suddenly I was leading in the second, but somehow I just gave her a chance again to be back in the match, and she took it.
“I was so frustrated with myself from the half of the second set to the end, which shouldn’t happen to me,” she said.
There was disappointment, too, for Caroline Wozaniacki, who fell 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to 59th-ranked Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova shook off a slow start to defeat Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-1.
Karolina next faces another qualifier, Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure, who defeated 28thseeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 16, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Eighth-seeded German Angelique Kerber eased into the third round with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.