Tennis fans on Saturday shared their reactions to the Pan Pacific Open draw, which features stars such as Naomi Osaka, Elena Rybakina, Alex Eala and Jasmine Paolini.
The singles draw for the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, scheduled from Monday to Sunday, has set up several intriguing first-round matchups. The WTA 500 event features a 28-player singles field, with Rybakina leading the draw and Osaka facing a challenging opening test.
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Rybakina is set to face the winner of the first-round match between Yulia Putintseva and Maria Sakkari. Meanwhile, Osaka has landed a brutal first-round match against Jasmine Paolini, setting up a difficult matchup for the Japanese star in front of her home crowd. Eala, who is placed in the bottom half of the draw, is scheduled to face 17-year-old British wildcard Mika Stojsavljevic.
The tournament’s draw quickly drew attention on X, with some fans reacting to Osaka’s opening-round matchup. One user wrote:
“Naomi maybes it’s best you just withdraw cuz ur not winning this 😭💔.”
Another user called it the “worst draw”:
Another follower, calling out Osaka’s first-round draw, wrote:
Reacting to Eala’s potential matchup with Shnaider in the quarterfinal, a user commented:
Another fan calling Osaka’s opening round against Paolini a “blockbuster,” wrote:
Reacting to Osaka’s potential quarterfinal matchup against Maja Chwalinska, a user wrote:
“Maja Chwalińska – Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals? I’d watch that!” (Translated from Polish)
Six players withdrew from the singles main draw of the Pan Pacific Open, including Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Marta Kostyuk, Anna Kalinskaya and Iva Jovic.
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Naomi Osaka opened up about returning to Grand Slam-winning form
Ahead of the tournament, Naomi Osaka spoke to reporters during the pre-tournament news conference on Sunday about her progress toward returning to the level that helped her win four Grand Slam singles titles. Her most recent major championship came at the 2021 Australian Open.
Asked about her chances of challenging for major titles again, Osaka said she believed she was getting closer to her best tennis.
“I genuinely don’t feel like I’m that far off. I think there are certain instincts that I don’t want to say I lost, but maybe I forgot, and I’m kind of relearning, but yeah, I don’t think — I hope — I’m not far off. I think I built a pretty solid base, and I’m just excited to see if I can continue learning and going further in tournaments,” Osaka said.
Naomi Osaka’s most recent tournament appearance was at the China Open, where she suffered a round-of-16 defeat to Karolina Muchova.
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