"I have a lot of experience" - Osaka on reason for victory in San Jose opener

Naomi Osaka made a winning return to tennis beating Qinwen Zheng in three sets and after the match, she underlined her experience as crucial.

Osaka did not play for a very long time as her final event before this one came at the French Open where Anisimova proved better. The Japanese player was nursing a hamstring injury and the first match in a while looked pretty decent. Qinwen Zheng is a tricky player with tremendous ball striking ability so Osaka had to dig deep to find a way out.

The 3rd set was the crucial one and Osaka largely cruised in that 6-1. She attributed her experience as key:

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"I have a lot of confidence in myself in third sets. I'm not sure if it's subconscious or not but I do remember thinking it's going to be hard for her to break me. Because I learned a lot from challenging that last ball in that game that I did get broken."

She added:

"I think that's one thing that I have above her is that I have a lot of experience. I've definitely played more matches than her, so it's going to be interesting to watch her grow."

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Level 🆙 🇯🇵 @naomiosaka gets the win in a tricky opening match against Zheng, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1! #MubadalaSVC

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