Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka has stunned Australian wildcard and crowd favourite Jarmila Wolfe in the first round of the 2016 Hobart International.
The 18-year-old saved two match points in a hard-fought 6-7(6) 7-6(8) 6-4 victory.
“I started off really slow I feel because I was really nervous playing her in front of an Australian crowd. Then I tried to find my groove and I felt like I was solid after that,” Osaka said.
Wolfe took advantage of her opponent’s early nerves, building a 5-2 lead in the first set. She failed to serve it out though, allowing Osaka to force a tiebreak.
The 2011 Hobart International champion again built an early lead in the tiebreak, having three set points at 6-3. Osaka saved them all, before Wolfe sealed the set with a forehand winner on her fourth set point.
Wolfe broke in the opening game of the second set, helping her race to a 3-1 lead. Again Osaka continued to fight, with her aggressive ball-striking helping her level and force another tiebreak.
It was intense tiebreak, which had a patriotic crowd on the edge of their seats. Wolfe had two match points, but again Osaka had an answer when she needed it most. The 18-year-old showed nerves of steel to force a third set, taking the tiebreak 10 points to 8.
“I was kind of scared for a second there,” Osaka admitted.
Osaka, who served 15 aces in the match, broke in the third game of the three set to edge ahead for the first time in the match. This time it was Wolfe’s turn to respond under pressure, and she did just that by immediately breaking.
Wolfe was struggling on serve, with her double fault count rising as she handed the break back to her younger opponent. She faced break points again trailing 2-4, but saved them in a titanic seventh game. Wolfe had break points in the next game, but couldn’t convert.
The Australian saved two match points on her serve at 3-5, forcing her No.144 ranked opponent to serve it out. Osaka did just that, clinching victory on her fourth match point.
A disappointed Wolfe said she could still take positives from the loss.
“I thought I played good at times,” she said.
“There were good things in it, the bad thing is I lost. Overall I served well, I had 12 aces and returned well, otherwise I wouldn’t get 14 break points.”
German Mona Barthel, the 2012 Hobart International champion, waits in the second round for Osaka.
The ninth seeded Barthel was the first winner of the day, defeating Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-4 6-4 on Court Events Tasmania. Barthel had lost to the left-handed Doi in Luxembourg in October 2015, so was relieved with the result.
“I’m pretty happy about it. We played last year in the final of a WTA tournament, which was a tough match and I lost in three sets there, so I was looking to get revenge,” Barthel said.
“I think I served pretty well, which made a lot of pressure for her.”
It was Barthel’s first win for 2016, after being struck with illness in Auckland in the opening week of the season.
“I was sick last week so I didn’t really know where my level was, especially my fitness, but I’m happy and it’s good I made it in two,” she said.