WUHAN, China (AP) — Naomi Osaka dropped the primary set earlier than rallying to beat Leylah Fernandez 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Tuesday to advance to the second spherical of the WTA’s 1,000-level Wuhan Open.
Osaka was again within the central Chinese metropolis for the primary time since 2017 and, within the day’s first match on middle court docket, dealing with the participant who produced a significant upset to beat her at the 2021 U.S. Open.
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Fernandez transformed considered one of her two first-set breakpoint probabilities and served constantly. But Osaka stepped up stress on the service returns within the second set, which featured 5 service breaks, and completed excessive of the 2021 U.S. Open finalist.
Emma Raducanu, who beat Fernandez to win the U.S. Open title 4 years in the past, was trailing Ann Li 6-1, 4-1 when she retired from their first-round match due to dizziness.
In different early matches, Sofia Kenin edged Anastasia Zakharova 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to arrange a second-round assembly towards No. 16 Liudmila Samsonova, who beat Emiliana Arango 6-1, 7-5.
No. 2 Iga Swiatek was scheduled to make her Wuhan event debut in a second-round match towards Marie Bouzkova within the night time session.
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Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Coco Gauff have been due to open Wednesday. No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, the runner-up at each the U.S. Open and Wimbledon this 12 months, withdrew from the Wuhan Open citing a left calf muscle harm after winning the China Open title.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis