Going up against a foe that made her WTA main draw debut, Camila Osorio made sure to bring her best foot forward to parry Sakura Hosogi’s efforts in the Philippine Women’s Open.
Camila Osorio needed to dig deep to come out victorious over Philippine Women’s Open qualifier Sakura Hosogi, as they battled to an entertaining 6-4, 6-3 result in the first round of the WTA 125 tournament at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center on Monday evening.
Osorio, seeded 5th in the tournament, was leaps ahead of Hosogi in the WTA rankings, but that didn’t stop the Japanese netter from making things interesting.
Right from the get-go in the first set, Osorio and Hosogi were seesawing with the opening set tied at 4-all.
In Game 9, Osorio fought tooth and nail against Hosogi in a point that had eight deuces before finally holding her serve and gaining the lead, 5-4.
The gutsy game win gave her enough momentum even as Hosogi served, when Osorio broke the Japanese netter’s serve in a love game to claim the opening set advantage, 6-4.
In Set 2, Osorio was able to seize control early with the 4-2 lead which helped her create enough space to finish the sweep and march on to the second round where she faces Mai Hontama.
In the other matches, Yuliia Starodubtseva withstood a second set challenge from Thai qualifier Peangtarn Plipuech to move on to the second round, 6-0, 6-4.
The earlier offering in center court saw Lanlana Tararudee upset 7-seed Simona Waltert, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
[RELATED: Lanlana Tararudee upends 7th seed Simona Waltert in Philippine Women’s Open]
As of writing, Polina Kudermetova is leading against Japan’s Miho Kuramochi in the other singles match.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.