Naomi Osaka continued her rich vein of form to beat eight-time champion Serena Williams in a highly anticipated Miami Open first-round encounter.
The Japanese player, up to world No 22 after her maiden title victory at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, won 6-3 6-2 against the returning American great at Crandon Park.
Williams, who made her WTA Tour comeback in the Californian Desert earlier this month after a 14-month absence to have her first child, struggled for consistency in a one-hour-and-18-minute defeat.
Both players were tentative in the early stages as the opening six games were shared before the 20-year-old took the initiative with back-to-back breaks to secure the first set.
Osaka underlined why she is being tipped as a future Grand Slam champion with some clean ball striking from the back of the court and accurate serving to comfortably close out the match in the second set and bring up a second-round meeting with fourth seed Elina Svitolina.
Katie Boulter was unable to build upon her impressive run through the qualifying rounds as the British No 5 fell to the experienced Su-Wei Hsieh from Taipei.
The world No 208 joined defending champion Jo Konta and Heather Watson in the main draw but suffered the same fate as British No 2 Watson, who lost 7-6 6-2 to Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia on Tuesday.
Three-time champion Victoria Azarenka, like Williams in her second tour appearance this season, outclassed American CiCi Bellis 6-3 6-0 to set up a second-round tussle against 2017 US Open finalist Madison Keys.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, a wildcard entrant, suffered a 6-2 7-5 defeat to France’s Alize Cornet on her comeback appearance from a serious knee injury sustained at Wimbledon last year.
You can watch more ATP Masters 1000 action from the Miami Open when we continue our coverage on Sky Sports Arena on Thursday at 3pm.
ATP Masters Tennis
March 22, 2018, 10:00am
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