Indian Wells: Osaka claims first top 20 win since return

Naomi Osaka reached the third round of the Indian Wells by defeating Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 14 seed, 7-5, 6-3 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Saturday night.

The former No 1, who had taken time away from the game to have her first child, was feeling reflective after the victory.

“Thank you everyone,” Osaka said on court. “I just wanted to say I know throughout my career I’ve done a couple things. Some of them I call growing pains. Thank you for supporting me throughout the years and letting me grow up on my own time.”

Osaka, ranked No 287, will play Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 24 seed, next.

Ahead of her victory, the Japanese won against Italian qualifier Sara Errani (6-3, 6-1).

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other second-round results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 9.258.080, most recent results first):

• Qinwen Zheng vs. Yue Yuan
• Peyton Stearns vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Lesia Tsurenko vs. Emma Navarro
• Elina Svitolina vs. Katerina Siniakova: sunday
• Caroline Dolehide vs. Victoria Azarenka: saturday
• Sloane Stephens beat Sorana Cirstea (19): 6-0, 7-5
• Anna Blinkova beat Jessica Pegula (5): 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
• Caroline Garcia (20) beat Viktoriya Tomova: 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
• Elise Mertens beat Xinyu Wang: 6-1, 6-4
• Maria Sakkari (9) beat Diana Shnaider: 5-7, 6-4, 6-0
• Emma Raducanu (WC) beat Dayana Yastremska (30): 4-0 ret.
• Diane Parry beat Leylah Fernandez (29): 7-5, 5-7, 6-2
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Clara Burel: 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Lucia Bronzetti beat Anhelina Kalinina (32): 6-3, 6-4
• Daria Kasatkina (11) beat Oceane Dodin: 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Madison Keys (18) beat Hailey Baptiste (Q): 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4)
• Nadia Podoroska (LL) beat Kayla Day (LL): 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Linda Noskova (26) beat Camila Giorgi: 6-3, 7-5
• Anna Kalinskaya (21) beat Taylor Townsend (Q): 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
• Katie Volynets (WC) beat Ons Jabeur (6): 6-4, 6-4
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (12) beat Rebecca Sramkova (Q): 7-5, 6-2
• Anastasia Potapova (28) beat Marie Bouzkova: 7-5, 6-1
• Jasmine Paolini (13) beat Tatjana Maria: 6-3, 6-3
• Marta Kostyuk (31) beat Mai Hontama (Q): 6-4, 6-2
• Caroline Wozniacki (WC) beat Donna Vekic (25): 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Veronika Kudermetova (17) beat Nao Hibino (Q): 6-1, 7-5
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Danielle Collins: 6-3, 6-0
• Marketa Vondrousova (7) beat Bernarda Pera (Q): 6-0, 6-2
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (22) beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Angelique Kerber beat Jelena Ostapenko (10): 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
• Yulia Putintseva beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (15): 7-5, 6-1