Naomi Osaka makes her feelings known after overcoming Caroline Garcia threat in Australian Open 1R

Naomi Osaka opened up about facing Caroline Garcia for the second consecutive time at the 2025 Australian Open. However, the Japanese got her revenge for last year's defeat with a hard-fought win.

Osaka and Garcia have faced each other twice at the Melbourne Major and despite their superior levels of tennis, all of the matches have happened within the opening two rounds. The second battle was an intense topsy-turvy thriller, where the 27-year-old reigned supreme 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Both women haven't been at their best for some time. Osaka, a two-time Australian Open champion, was grateful to headline the Rod Laver Arena again. She reminisced about their battle last year, coincidentally a night match which Garcia won in straight sets.

“And I think I grinded on the tour a little bit, but yeah, I feel like. It's a really big coincidence that I'm playing here again, but yeah, I just tried to do my best and I know we played night match last time as well, so, it felt a little familiar,” Osaka said.

“Just being able to play so many matches in New Zealand... I didn't serve too many times before this match but I'm really happy with how it went... I'm really grateful to get the opportunity to play on Rod Laver Arena again. I was really shocked when I saw the schedule," she added.

After defeating Caroline Garcia, Naomi Osaka is set to face another threat. Interestingly, the last time the Japanese defeated Garcia at the 2021 Australian Open, she won the event.

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Naomi Osaka will play Karolina Muchova in the second round of the 2025 Australian Open

Osaka celebrating a point - Source: Getty

Naomi Osaka has been dealt with the short stick at the 2025 Australian Open. After overcoming the huge threat of Caroline Garcia, Naomi Osaka will have to face the very dangerous Karolina Muchova, in what will be the third meeting between the two women. Muchova leads their head-to-head 2-1. 20th seed Muchova had a fiery start to her campaign in Melbourne by decimating Nadia Podoroska 6-1, 6-1.

Their most recent meeting came at the US Open last year where the Czech claimed a statement 6-3, 7-6(5) win over the two-time US Open champion and made it to the semifinals.

The winner of the match between Naomi Osaka and Karolina Muchova will play either Suzan Lamens or Belinda Bencic in the third round. All the aforementioned women are placed in the same section as third seed Coco Gauff, who will play Jodie Burrage next.