The Albany Gazette - Osorio topples Osaka, Kvitova ousted at Indian Wells

Former world number one Osaka, now ranked 56th in the world, looked rusty against the 52nd-ranked Colombian, struggling to find the range on her powerful groundstrokes on a chilly night in the California desert.

Osorio, who challenged Osaka with an array of drop shots and slices, gained the lone break of the opening set for a 5-4 lead and served it out without a hitch, then broke Osaka to open the second.

The Japanese star immediately broke back, but Osorio gained the upper hand with a break in the seventh game. After Osaka fought off a match point against her own serve Osorio served it out, fighting off four break points to seal it with a stinging forehand winner.

It was a winning return from injury for Osorio, who pulled out of last week's event in Merida, Mexico, with an abdominal injury.

Osaka, who returned from a 15-month break last year after giving birth to daughter Shai in 2023, reached her first final since 2022 in Auckland, but retired from the title match with an abdominal injury.

Back for the Australian Open, she was forced to retire from her third round match with an abdominal strain.

Osorio, owner of two WTA titles, booked a second-round meeting with Denmark's Clara Tauson, the 22nd seed, who took the title in Auckland when Osaka retired.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, on the comeback trail seven months after giving birth to her son Petr, also fell in the first round.

France's 70th-ranked Varvara Gracheva beat the Czech 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, but the 24-year-old was full of admiration for her 34-year-old opponent, who lifted the trophy at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.

"If you let me step back a little bit, I really want to congratulate her," Gracheva said. "Because she had a child quite recently, and I'm so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It's very inspiring for sports, athletes, women -- it's just amazing."

All 32 men's and women's seeds have first round byes in this combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 tournament.

Gracheva lined up a second-round meeting with ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, the 17-year-old Russian who became the youngest ever WTA 1000 champion in Dubai last month.

In other matches, French veteran Caroline Garcia beat US wild card Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-4 to line up a second-round meeting with second-seeded defending champion Iga Swiatek.

- Nishikori battles through -

In men's action, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands beat Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 to book a second-round meeting with top-seeded German Alexander Zverev, who heads a field missing world number one Jannik Sinner as he serves a three-months drugs ban.

China's Bu Yunchaokete defeated American Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-4 to book a second-round match against Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, runner-up the past two years to Carlos Alcaraz -- who is seeded second as he chases a rare three-peat.

Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori, who revealed during the Australian Open that he almost quit tennis last year after lengthy battles with injury, defeated Spain's Jaume Munar 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3) to line up a second-round match against 18th-seeded Ugo Humbert of France.

Nishikori was treated for a leg injury in the third set and then soldiered through cramp to close out the victory.

"It was not easy," Nishikori said. "In the third set I was cramping pretty badly, but somehow I came back and won, so a very good match."

(T.Wright--TAG)