Back-to-back major champion beaten 6-3 6-3 on her return to competitive action after last month's Australian Open.
Wednesday 20 February 2019 08:07, UK
World No 1 Naomi Osaka suffered a second-round defeat on her return to competitive action, losing to Kristina Mladenovic at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Osaka, who parted ways with coach Sascha Bajin last week following her victory in Melbourne, struggled with her service game against the world No 67, winning 48 per cent of her first serve points and making 25 unforced errors as she folded in just over an hour.
Mladenovic hit three fewer winners than Osaka's 19, but made nine unforced errors and converted seven of the 10 break point opportunities she carved out en route to registering her first career victory over a reigning world No 1.
"It means a lot. I know I'm capable of beating great players. I did that in the past exactly on this court," Mladenovic said.
The Frenchwoman faces Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, who beat China's Shuai Zhang, in the third round of the high-profile event which is stacked with big names.
Osaka's shock exit was the most dramatic result on a day in which most of the other top seeds prevailed.
Australian Open runner-up Petra Kvitova rallied from a set down to beat Czech compatriot Katerina Siniakova 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4, while third seed Simona Halep advanced with a 7-6(4) 6-4 victory over Canadian wild card Eugenie Bouchard.
"Even (though) I lost the tiebreak, I was really fighting," Kvitova said. "I won my first two games in the second set. It was really helpful for me for the mentally. Then I'm glad that I was able to hold my serve until the chances in the third.
Kvitova, the second seed, was almost the architect of her own downfall with nine double faults in the match but recovered to set up a clash with American qualifier Jennifer Brady.
Brady pulled off another of the day's upsets when she beat 14th seed Caroline Garcia of France 6-4 7-5, joining compatriot Sofia Kenin in the next round.
Kenin ousted last year's Dubai runner-up Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3 2-6 6-4 and Alison Riske beat France's Alize Cornet 6-2 6-3 to mark another good day for the Americans in Dubai.
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