Naomi Osaka wins her first career match in Madrid to get to the 2nd round with an excellent straight-sets win over the world no.33 Dominika Cibulkova.
The match
Naomi had a great 2-0 win-loss record against Cibulkova ahead of their clash in Spain while the Slovakian was having a rather lousy season after winning just 1 match of 7. The Japanese didn’t start very well after she was broken in the 3rd game (1-2), but that was just the start of a great winning streak for Naomi that won the following 5 games to conquer the set with a strong 6-2 scoreline.
Osaka had a slow start also in the second set after she was broken in the 2nd game (0-2). However, the Japanese managed to break back later in the 8th game (4-4) to send the affair to the breaker. After Osaka got a quick 5-2 lead, it seemed as she was sliding to an “easy” win. Nevertheless, Cibulkova made things even (5-5). Eventually, the world no.1 found her way to win the set and the match. The scoreline was 6-2 7-6 (6), and the encounter ended after 1 hour and 55 minutes.
It’s a win for @Naomi_Osaka_ at the #MMOpen!
She claimed the match over Cibulkova 6-2, 7-6(6) 💪 pic.twitter.com/PxyalAVNGa— WTA (@WTA) May 5, 2019
NAOMI IN ACTION IN MADRID
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Embed from Getty Images |