Naomi Osaka saves two match points to rally past Liudmila Samsonova in Montreal
The four-time Grand Slam champion saved back-to-back match points in the 10th game of the second set, and she trailed 5-2 in the second-set tiebreaker on the way to a 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 triumph.
Osaka, now working with Tomasz Wiktorowski after announcing on Monday she had split with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, notched her first win over a top-20 player since beating Karolina Muchova at the Australian Open.
But she had to dig deep for the win after surrendering early breaks in each of the first two sets.
Wimbledon quarterfinalist Samsonova served for the match at 5-4 in the second and led 40-15. The Russian fired a forehand long on her first match point and a lackluster drop shot effort on her second gave Osaka an opening, and the Japanese star pounced.
Samsonova's double fault on break point allowed Osaka to level the set, and after storming back in the tiebreaker to force a third set Osaka took control early, breaking Samsonova twice on the way to a 4-1 lead.
"She definitely came out really hard and, for me, I was definitely overwhelmed, and I didn't know if I should also be hitting winners," Osaka said.
"But after a while I just tried to keep the ball in court," added Osaka, who snapped a four-match losing streak in three-setters.
Osaka next faces Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, who beat Mexico's Renata Zarazua 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Swiatek, seeded second in her first tournament since her crushing victory over Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon final, breezed past Chinese qualifier Guo Hanyu 6-3, 6-1, breaking Guo's serve six times.
Her untroubled tournament opener followed Osaka's battling victory over Samsonova.
Australian Open champion Madison Keys, the sixth seed, opened her Canadian campaign with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Laura Siegemund, avenging a third-round loss to the German at Wimbledon.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
15 hours ago
- Japan Times
From Osaka to the NHL: Jordan Spence hopes to inspire young Japanese hockey players
There was a time when the notion of a Japanese player making it to the top level of hockey was absurd enough that it became the butt of a joke. In 1974, Buffalo Sabres general manager Punch Imlach was so frustrated with the length of the NHL draft and, seeing no players left that interested him, had his organization draft a fictitious player named Taro Tsujimoto with the 183rd overall pick. The ruse was eventually uncovered when the nonexistent Tsujimoto, who was even given a locker, failed to show up for training camp. But the name continues to be a unique part of hockey lore, and for years Tsujimoto was the closest a 'Japanese player' came to making the NHL. Today, young players in Japan have an actual homegrown NHL player they can look up to. Jordan Spence, who was born in Australia but grew up in Osaka, is getting set for his fifth NHL season after being traded from the Los Angeles Kings to the Ottawa Senators earlier in the offseason. Spence, then with the Kings, takes a shot during a game against the Kraken in April. | Imagn Images / via Reuters Spence, who has a Canadian father and Japanese mother, learned to play during a childhood spent in the baseball-mad Kansai region. 'I was lucky because my dad was really big into hockey and he was very passionate about the game, so he was always able to find a lot of ice time,' Spence told The Japan Times. Still, it's fair to wonder how far his career could have taken him in Japan, and the family eventually moved to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island in large part so he could pursue hockey more seriously. He was able to adapt seamlessly to the more competitive hockey environment in Canada, eventually earning a spot on the blueline with the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL, one of Canada's three top-tier junior hockey leagues. Later, he caught the eye of the Kings, who took him in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL draft. 'It's pretty cool. You kind of have to take a step back and realize the journey that you've overcome,' Spence said. 'Hopefully that can motivate other players, especially in Japan, that it's possible to make it to the NHL.' Indeed, Spence's path to the elite level puts him in rarified air in a sport that produces few talents outside of hot spots in North America and Europe. After the infamous Tsujimoto incident, an actual Japanese player wasn't drafted until defenseman Hiroyuki Miura was taken by the Montreal Canadiens in 1992 — though he never suited up for the storied franchise. Kings goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji makes a save during his first NHL start on Jan. 16, 2007. Fukufuji was the first Japanese player to play in an NHL game. | Reuters Then in 2004, the Kings selected goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji, who played four games with the big club in the 2006-07 season to become Japan's first bonafide NHLer. Fukufuji's brief stint, however, pales in comparison to what Spence has done in his young career. Through 180 games, Spence has produced eight goals and 53 assists while earning a regular role with the Kings over the last two seasons, playing in all but 14 of the team's games over that span. Last month, the 24-year-old defenseman returned to Japan for the first time since his move to Canada to help run a hockey camp in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, and tour his old stomping grounds in Osaka, including the arena in Namba where his hockey career began. The two-day camp in Hokkaido, called Dreamskate Japan and organized by POD, a startup investment firm with an office in LA, saw the participation of 200 boys and girls from elementary school age up to high school. Spence shares a laugh with a young player during the Dreamskate Japan hockey camp in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, last month. | Courtesy of POD While Spence wasn't able to go full gas with the younger players, the intensity of his efforts ramped up when it was time to lead the older players through drills. He also did his own workout before one of the sessions, giving everyone a rare chance to see what NHL speed and skills look like up close. 'I can't explain how exciting it was for them to see a real NHL player,' said POD Americas President Kaz Yamanouchi, who helped organize the camp. 'He was full speed and full power ... the kids were so excited.' In addition to the on-ice training sessions led in part by Spence, the young players were given the opportunity to ask the Senators defenseman about his life and path to the pros. Yamanouchi recalls one player asked the 180-centimeter, 80-kilogram Spence about his relatively average size and weight. 'He said that 'always there's doubters, there's always negative comments or obstacles, but I fought through it and that's why I'm here. As long as you have confidence, you can achieve it.' I think the high school kids took that as a really serious answer. ... That was really inspiring,' Yamanouchi said. Spence demonstrates a shooting drill to participants at the Dreamskate Japan hockey camp in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, last month. | Courtesy of POD Spence signs autographs for young players during the Dreamskate Japan hockey camp in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, last month. | Courtesy of POD Evidently, it wasn't just the children who were impacted by Dreamskate Japan — Spence said he hopes to be part of more camps in Japan going forward. 'Being able to look at their skill and see how they compete, it's an eye-opening experience,' he said. 'They have the skill to compete against North American players. I think at the end of the day it's all about confidence and just being yourself when you're on the ice.' The camp also resonated with him on a more personal level as his status as a role model for young Japanese hockey players hit home. 'Being able to see their faces and see how excited they were to come to the camp and excited to go on the ice with me, take pictures, get autographs, that really caught me off guard a little bit,' Spence said. 'These little things that I do in Japan mean a lot for them and to kind of give back ... I thought it was very cool.'
Japan Times
16 hours ago
- Japan Times
Canadian teen Mboko stuns top-seeded Gauff in Montreal
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko took down top-seeded American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday, thrilling the home crowd as she reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal. The 18-year-old wild card saved all four break points she faced, and broke reigning French Open champion Gauff three times on the way to a comprehensive victory in just 62 minutes. "I don't even know what to say still, I was kind of shocked about it all," said Mboko, adding that the support of the home crowd had buoyed her late in the second set. "I just remember in the last game when I was up 5-4, the crowd kind of started cheering even louder, and everything got super noisy," she said. "I kind of used that as more fuel for myself and to pump myself up a little bit more. "I think it helped me tremendously, especially in the last game, since they were so encouraging me. It was just amazing." Mboko started the season ranked 333rd in the world and has worked her way up to 85 but the win over Gauff — who she took to three sets in Rome in May — is the biggest win of her career. "Playing Coco is obviously never easy. She's No. 2 in the world, and it has been such a great opportunity for me to play against someone like her," Mboko said. "I was just happy I kept my composure today and I pulled it through." Gauff, who had a combined 37 double faults as she struggled through her first two matches, was caught flat-footed as the Canadian teen raced through the first set in 25 minutes. Gauff buckled down in the second, but she was unable to convert three break chances in the seventh game — coming up short on a drop shot and smacking a forehand into the net on the first two. She gained another chance only to hit a service return long, then flew a volley wide to give Mboko a game point, duly converted when Gauff fired a forehand long. Down 15-30 in the ninth game, Mboko leveled at 30-30 with a blistering backhand, then closed out the hold for a 5-4 lead. Serving to stay in the match, Gauff fell in a quick 0-30 hole and double-faulted to give Mboko a match point, on which the American hit a backhand into the net. "She played a really great match, that's basically it," Gauff said. "I haven't played the best in this tournament, so I knew that it would be tough. I just felt like I could do better today, but I also knew that if I took my foot off the gas a little bit that she would take advantage of those moments, and she did." Mboko will next play either China's Zhu Lin or Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. Zhu, once ranked as high as No. 31 in the world, has dropped to 493rd after missing the last five months of 2024 and another three months earlier this year with an elbow injury. Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina out-lasted Dayana Yastremska 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 to book a quarterfinal clash with Marta Kostyuk. Kazakhstan's Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion who won her first title in more than a year at Strasbourg in May, was slowed by nine double faults. But she ultimately had enough to get past Ukraine's Yastremska, breaking her twice in the third set and sealing it on her fourth match point. She'll face another Ukrainian in Kostyuk, who came from behind to beat American McCartney Kessler 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
Japan Times
18 hours ago
- Japan Times
Imperious Ledecky beats McIntosh to win 800-meter free thriller
American great Katie Ledecky beat Summer McIntosh to win a thrilling 800-meter freestyle title on Saturday and said her rule for the event is simple: "I don't lose 800s." Ledecky won her seventh career gold in the event but she was challenged all the way, touching the wall in a championship-record 8 minutes, 5.62 seconds — a fingertip ahead of Australia's Lani Pallister (8:05.98) and McIntosh (8:07.29). The race was billed as a potential changing of the guard between the 28-year-old Ledecky and McIntosh, a decade her junior and in red-hot form in Singapore. Pallister made sure she inserted her own name into the conversation, but Ledecky had the final word, winning gold again in an event she has dominated for over a decade. "This is my favorite event, it was my first gold," said Ledecky, who made her international breakthrough in the 800 when she won at the London Olympics as a 15-year-old. "Even in practice, if I'm doing 800s I tell myself that. I kind of have this fake rule — I don't lose 800s." It was Canadian sensation McIntosh's first defeat of the championships and ended her bid to match Michael Phelps as the only swimmer ever to win five individual golds at a single world championships. The 18-year-old has already won three golds in Singapore. Ledecky had too much staying power for her younger rival, with Pallister also in gold-medal contention right until the end. "They pushed me all the way," said Ledecky, a four-time Olympic champion in the event. "I'm just really happy I could put that together. I just kept telling myself to trust my legs." Ledecky competes in the final of the women's 800 on Saturday. | AFP-JIJI The eagerly anticipated race began with Ledecky, Pallister and McIntosh all setting a fast pace, with little between them in the opening stages. The lead changed hands several times but Ledecky, swimming between her two rivals, looked best-placed to strike for home. In the end it was the American celebrating with her country's flag on the pool deck after an epic race. "I just knew it was close the whole way, there were times where I thought someone was going to break away," said Ledecky. "I was just happy I was up there. You never know when you dive in what everyone's tactics are going to be." McIntosh is relatively new to the 800 but she threatened Ledecky's world record at the Canadian trials in June. She has another chance to add to her gold tally on the final day in Singapore on Sunday in the 400-meter individual medley, an event in which she broke the world record in June. "I hate losing more than I like winning and I think that's a mentality that I carried with myself through my entire career — and that's my hand on the wall first most of the time," she said. "The feeling right now is something I never want to feel again."
