Following her victory, Osaka, currently ranked No 73, is set to face No 21 seed Yulia Putintseva at the National Tennis Center in Beijing. Putintseva currently leads their head-to-head matchups 3-2, but Osaka has won their last two encounters, including one earlier this year in the BJK Cup qualifiers.
This tournament marks Osaka’s first appearance since parting ways with coach Wim Fissette. She has been training with French coach Patrick Mouratoglou leading up to this event, sparking rumors that he may become her new coach.
In her last appearance at this event in 2019, Osaka emerged as the victor, marking her 20th win of the season. She aims to achieve back-to-back wins on the tour for the first time since June.
Highlights from other first-round matches at Beijing WTA 1000 (National Tennis Center, hard, USD 8,955,610):
- Taylor Townsend defeated Martina Trevisan: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
- Yuliia Starodubtseva (Q) triumphed over Laura Siegemund: 6-4, 7-6 (3)
- Xinyu Wang beat Mai Hontama (LL): 6-1, 6-3
- Viktoriya Tomova outplayed Lesia Tsurenko: 6-3, 6-3
- Sofia Kenin triumphed over Ana Bogdan: 7-5, 6-2
- Greet Minnen defeated Erika Andreeva: 7-5, 6-2
- Upcoming matches include Yafan Wang vs. Ashlyn Krueger, Anna Blinkova vs. Karolina Muchova, Zarina Diyas vs. Mananchaya Sawangkaew, Elena-Gabriela Ruse vs. Sijia Wei, and more.
