The Japan Times - Jellyfish-inspired Osaka battles into Australian Open round two

The Japanese superstar emerged onto Rod Laver Arena carrying a white parasol with matching wide-brimmed hat and long veil, wearing a sleeveless turquoise dress over pleated white trousers.

She conducted the pre-match formalities wearing part of her outfit before getting to work.

When the gasps of the crowd subsided, the four-time Grand Slam champion was made to fight hard before downing Croatia's 65th-ranked Antonia Ruzic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to set up a clash with Romania's Sorana Cirstea.

"Nike let me design this one, and it's modelled after a jellyfish," she said of her outfit.

"I'm just so grateful that I get to be able to do the things that I love. It's really beautiful."

The 28-year-old former world number one, who is well known for her on-court fashion statements, won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021.

But her trophy cabinet has been bare since then after mental health issues then having a baby.

Now ranked 17 in the world, she showed signs of her brilliant best in reaching the semi-finals at the US Open last year and raced into a 3-0 lead against Ruzic.

The Croat, making her Australian Open debut, battled back to level at 3-3, but Osaka worked another break and sealed the set in 44 minutes.

Osaka's intensity waned at the start of the second set as Ruzic fought hard and powered into a 3-0 lead.

The contest was halted for more than five minutes on deuce at 5-3 to Ruzic when the red lights on the net that signal when a ball is out malfunctioned.

When they finally resumed, Ruzic, playing on her 23rd birthday, wasted no time sealing the set and taking it to a decider.

Osaka took a toilet break and returned to open a 2-0 lead, but once again Ruzic came roaring back.

Both players struggled to hold serve in a scrappy final set with Osaka drawing on her experience at the crunch to break once again and stay alive.

"Honestly, this is one of my favourite tournaments and just to start the year off here, it makes me very happy," said Osaka.

"I think I served pretty well, and she's an amazing player. I've never played her before, so I hope to not see her on the other side of the net (again)."

It was her 70th Grand Slam main draw win, only the second Japanese woman to achieve the feat after Ai Sugiyama.

K.Okada--JT