Naomi Osaka Begins Clay Season with Madrid Open Loss
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka began her clay-court season with a challenging start, falling to Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti in the first round of the WTA Madrid Open on Tuesday. Bronzetti secured a hard-fought victory over the Japanese star with a score of 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
During the tense match point, Osaka stumbled but quickly reassured fans of her well-being as she and Bronzetti shared a sportsmanlike handshake at the net. This was Osaka’s first match in nearly a month since reaching the fourth round of the Miami Open, and she entered the tournament unseeded, currently ranked 55th in the world.
Bronzetti, who advances to the second round, is set to face fifth-seeded American Madison Keys. The Italian player aims to reach her third third-round appearance at a WTA 1000 event.
In other matches, 19-year-old Alexandra Eala continued to impress as she defeated Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. Eala sets up a highly anticipated rematch with Poland’s Iga Swiatek in the second round, after stunning the world number one as a wild card in Miami last month.
