Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep advance to second spherical in Madrid Open

Second-seeded Naomi Osaka made her return to clay to beat Misaki Doi 7-5, 6-2 within the first spherical of the Madrid Open on Friday.
Osaka overcame Doi’s robust begin by hitting six aces and breaking her serve 5 instances.
A leg damage meant Osaka missed final season’s clay-court swing, and her final particular person event on the floor was at Roland Garros in 2019. She performed and misplaced for Japan in opposition to Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo within the Fed Cup in February 2020.
Osaka, the U.S. Open and Australian Open champion, subsequent performs Karolina Muchova after the Czech beat Qiang Wang 6-1, 6-3.
Third-seeded Simona Halep, who gained the event in 2016 and ’17, beat Sorribes Tormo 6-0, 7-5.
Maria Sakkari roared again after shedding the primary seven video games of her match in opposition to Amanda Anisimova to win 0-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Daria Kasatkina wanted three match factors to see off Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1).
Fifth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-2.