Naomi Osaka started her Madrid Open campaign with a solid win, but she couldn't add a second one as Liudmila Samsonova outplayed her.
The Russian is one of the trickiest players to play because no one ever quite knows what to expect from her. Her best, as demonstrated in this match, is a Top 10 level, especially in conditions where the ball flies as quickly as it does in Madrid.
She's also pretty solid on clay, so this was a tough match for Osaka, who did fancy her chances. She had a really good opening match in the Spanish capital, which boosted her confidence, but the second-round match didn't go quite as well.
The opening set opened badly for the former world no. 1, who fell behind quickly, setting the tone for the rest of the match. Samsonova did really well to absorb Osaka's power and outplay her for the double-break lead 4-0.
That certainly gave her confidence moving forward, and she kept playing well. Osaka stabilized a bit and won a few games, but she couldn't put any pressure on the Russian, losing the opening set 2-6.
The problem for Osaka was her vulnerability on the second serve and the return games, as she didn't really manage to threaten her opponent. The second set opened with an early break for Samsonova, and that really wasn't ideal for Osaka.
Ideally, she wanted to stabilize the serve a bit more and try to put some pressure on her opponent. Despite the early break, she was able to break back because of how streaky Samsonova can be.
The Russian rarely plays a clean match, and this wasn't either. She broke once more but then lost four games in a row to lose the set 4-6.
It was a spectacular fightback from Osaka, who kept fighting in the third set. She suffered another early break but battled back once more to keep her hopes alive.
Still, at 5-5 in the final set, Osaka ran into some issues and misfired too often to lose her serve. Samsonova held to win the match 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
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