"I was watching Elina Svitolina last year and admiring her runs, an honor to play against her" - Naomi Osaka on facing fellow mother in Miami Open 2R
Naomi Osaka has said that it is an honor for her to play against Elina Svitolina. The pair is set for a second-round clash at the Miami Open.
In May 2022, Svitolina announced that she was pregnant with husband Gael Monfils' child. She gave birth to daughter Skai later that year in October. The former WTA World No. 3 returned to tennis as a wildcard at the 2023 Charleston Open.
Svitolina regained confidence after several ITF Women's World Tennis Tour events. She registered successive wins at the Open de Saint-Malo, a WTA 125 event, but was defeated by eventual champion Sloane Stephens.
Svitolina's resurgence continued at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, where she won her 17th title on the WTA Tour. At the French Open, she reached the quarterfinals before losing to World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. Her French Open run ensured her return to the top 100 in the WTA Tour rankings.
Svitolina reached the semifinals at the Wimbledon Championships, defeating World No. 1 Iga Swiatek. The victory boosted her WTA Tour ranking, as she made it to the top 30. At the end of the 2023 season, the WTA picked Svitolina for its Comeback Player of the Year award.
Osaka, who returned to action for the 2024 season after becoming a mother herself, spoke highly of the Ukrainian after her first-round win at the Miami Open. The four-time Grand Slam winner said that she watched and admired Svitolina's performances in 2023. She also said that it is an honor for her to play against the Ukrainian.
"I was watching her (Svitolina) last year and I was admiring all her runs in Wimbledon and it's going to be a really incredible honor to play against her," Osaka said.
Naomi Osaka has locked horns with Elina Svitolina at the Miami Open before
At the 2018 Miami Open, Osaka played against Svitolina in the second round. At the time, the latter was seeded fourth at the WTA 1000 event. Svitolina comfortably defeated the unseeded Osaka 6-4, 6-2.
Since the pair's 2018 Miami Open clash, they have faced each other only once on the WTA Tour. That particular contest came in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Australian Open. On this occasion, it was Osaka who clinched a 6-4, 6-1 victory and went on to win the women's singles title.
Overall, Osaka and Svitolina have met six times on the WTA Tour, with a 3-3 head-to-head record.