Naomi Osaka fights back to win the first round game at Miami Open

On a sun-drenched day in South Beach, Naomi Osaka scored a comeback victory over Yuliia Starodubtseva: 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Starodububtseva, a qualification game, scored two victories in so many days to meet a four-time Grand Slam champion in the first round. The non -set Osaka fell behind a set and a break before he came back to gain the second and third sets epic.

Osaka made it a strategy to fight for every single point and converted the match into a three-way marathon that ran for 2 hours and 28 minutes.

Osaka said on the pitch in her interview: “I knew that I wasn't playing so well, but I thought I was trying to stay on the pitch as long as possible because I look at Miami for my home.”

She continued: “(In Indian Wells) I was much exceeded, so I tried to use my legs. I would run into every corner if I had to and we had to play for three hours if she was beating me.”

Today Osaka's first win has been marked since her second round win at the Australian Open in January. Osaka retired to Belinda Bencic in the middle of the game because a continuing abdominal injury was missing the rest of January and February.

After the missing time, Osaka returned to Camila Osorio in Indian Wells last week. She called the loss against Osorio the “worst match in my life”.

Osaka is currently the WTA World No. 61 with a record of 7-3. She will compete against Liudmila Samsonova in the second round in the second round on Friday, March 21st.

Osaka and Samsonova divided their two earlier meetings, both of whom came last year. Samsonova took Indian Wells, while Osaka won in Madrid later in the year.

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