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Osaka topples Serena in Miami 1st round

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports / Action Images

Reigning Indian Wells champion Naomi Osaka continued her run of spectacular form on Tuesday, routing Serena Williams 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the Miami Open.

Williams, an eight-time champion in Miami, is 2-2 since returning to the tour in February after a year-long hiatus to have a child, and she still looks like she's shaking off some rust and playing her way back into shape. Against Osaka, her feet were slow, her return game was a bit of a mess, and her serve wasn't near as destructive as usual.

Osaka, meanwhile, matched Serena's firepower from the baseline, but got on top of her with superior footwork and more accurate (and no less explosive) serving. Going back to her run in Indian Wells, the 20-year-old has now won eight consecutive matches, with four of them coming over current or former world No. 1s (Williams, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, and Maria Sharapova) in straight sets.

This one in particular meant a lot to Osaka, who was playing the 23-time Grand Slam champion for the first time.

"I was extremely nervous coming onto the court," Osaka said in her post-match interview. "I don't know if anybody knows this but Serena's my favorite player. Just playing against her was kind of like a dream for me, so I'm very grateful that I was able to play her, and it's even better that I was able to win.

"I kinda wanted to impress her. I just wanted to make her say 'Come on!' one time, and I think she did, so I'm really happy about that."

Osaka will get another ostensibly daunting opponent in the second round. She advances to meet world No. 4 Elina Svitolina, who beat her in the Dubai quarterfinals last month.

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