Naomi Osaka will have to play the qualifying for the 2024 Cincinnati Open, which isn't something she's used to, at least not recently, as the last time she had to do that was in 2018.
Osaka is an established player on the WTA Tour, but it hasn't always been like that. Many years ago, the Japanese player had to prove herself as one of the best players in the world, and that process started with many qualifying matches.
Most tennis players can relate to this, even though not all players play many qualifiers. She didn't either, but she knows it's an experience. It's also an experience that she will relive this year because she will play the qualifiers for the 2024 Cincinnati Open.
This comes because her ranking wasn't good enough to enter this WTA 1000 event, and she was given wild card only for the qualifying. It's a significant tournament, and considering its position in the calendar ahead of the US Open, almost all players who will be in New York will play in Cincinnati as well.
That squeezed the 95th-ranked Osaka out of direct entrance to the event, meaning that she needed to rely on the wild card, and she got that only for the qualifying. It's a humbling experience in many ways for Osaka, who was adamant in January that she wanted to be close to the Top 10 by now.
She played a lot of events this year, but the results weren't that impressive, apart from occasional runs and wins. It's normal because she missed a lot of time, and it would take her many months to really find herself.
Her level has, at times, looked really good, and it's widely expected that she will go through the qualifying into the main draw. What is interesting to observe is that this will be her first qualifying match in six years.
The last time she played qualifiers was for the Qatar Open in Doha in 2018. Osaka was out of the Top 50 at that time and simply not ranked highly enough to enter the event directly.
Her first match in Doha was against Jing Jing Lu from China, which Osaka won 6-3, 6-4. Her final qualifying match, until this year, was against Danka Kovinic, which Osaka won 6-3, 6-1.
She would then go on to play two matches in the main draw, losing the second one to Anastasija Sevastova in two sets. Now, she is favored to breeze through the qualifiers and then hopefully play a couple of matches in the main draw.
Returning to hard courts was a nice experience for her as she loves that surface. That's her bread and butter, even though she failed to beat Elise Mertens for the second time this year in Toronto.
It won't be easy as will be facing Anna Blinkova in the first round of the qualifying, a capable player, even though a player who hasn't really played that well lately.
Blinkova's last win was almost two months ago in Bad Homburg, so it shouldn't be a hugely complicated match for Osaka.
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