After 26 aces combined, Osaka holds off Danilovic in Bad Homburg first round
In a battle of serving excellence at the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt on Monday, former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka came out on top.
Bad Homburg: Draws | Scores | Order of Play | 411
Osaka of Japan edged past Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in a gripping first-round showdown at the WTA 500 grass-court event. Currently ranked 57th in the PIF WTA Rankings, Osaka took 2 hours and 5 minutes to best World No. 37 Danilovic.
This year's leader in percentage of first-serve points won, Osaka had 16 aces, although Danilovic was not too far behind with 10 aces of her own.
"It’s my first grass-court win of the year, so I’m really excited about that," Osaka said on court, after the match.
"I think I have potential [on grass], but everyone else is also really good," the main-draw wild card continued. "I can never take it for granted, the wins. Just super excited that I won today."
The victory halts Osaka's three-match losing streak. After a Round-of-16 loss to Peyton Stearns at Rome, Osaka fell to Top 20 players in her next two matches: Paula Badosa in the Roland Garros first round and Liudmila Samsonova last week in Berlin.
With a win under her belt, Osaka now advances to a second-round meeting with No. 5 seed Emma Navarro of the United States. Navarro defeated Osaka in their only previous meeting, which was also on grass -- a 6-4, 6-1 win for the American at Wimbledon last year.
Stellar serving: Neither player was broken in Monday's match -- Osaka erased the four break points she faced, while Danilovic fended off six.
The straight-sets win came down to the narrowest of margins in both tiebreaks. Osaka came back from 4-2 down in the first-set breaker, using her backhand to force an error on her second set point and grab the one-set lead after 70 minutes.
Danilovic kept fighting -- she started the second set with three consecutive aces. Again, the set came down to the tiebreak, where Osaka brilliantly challenged a called ace by Danilovic. The review showed the ball just out, Danilovic promptly double faulted, and Osaka took a 3-1 lead.
A sterling smash gave Osaka a 6-4 advantage and double match point. Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka fired a forehand winner on the next point, giving her a hard-fought win over a powerful opponent.
Azarenka advances, faces Swiatek next: Another former World No. 1, Victoria Azarenka, also won her Bad Homburg first-round match on Monday. Two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka moved past wild card Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-2.
Azarenka had to qualify for this week's main draw and her ranking is down to World No. 105. But she never faced a break point as she eased through her 2025 grass-court main-draw debut.
Azarenka will now face former World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the second round. Swiatek leads their head-to-head 4-1 overall and has won their last three meetings in straight sets.
Vekic upends defending champion Shnaider: Donna Vekic lost to Diana Shnaider in last year's Bad Homburg final, but she reversed that result on Monday.
Vekic topped No. 6 seed Shnaider 6-3, 6-3 in the first match of the day at Bad Homburg. Vekic was another victor who had a strong day on serve -- she saved all four break points she faced in the match.
Vekic meets Linda Noskova in the next round. In their only previous match, Noskova beat Vekic 6-2, 6-4 on the hard courts of Doha this year.
