Peter Thompson, STATS Perform
STATS Perform/dpa
An emotional Naomi Osaka says being targeted by a heckling spectator during her loss to Veronika Kudermetova reminded of abuse the Williams sisters were subjected to at the Indian Wells Open. Osaka was reduced to tears as she crashed out with a 6-0, 6-4 third-round defeat to 21st seed Veronika Kudermetova at Indian Wells on Saturday.
A member of the crowd could be heard shouting “Naomi, you suck” after the four-time grand slam champion had been broken in the first game of the match.
Osaka approached the chair umpire to report the incident and held further discussions with the court supervisor after being insulted again.
Serena and Venus Williams were subjected to verbal abuse at the prestigious tournament in the Californian desert back in 2001.
The legendary siblings’ father, Richard Williams, claimed he had been racially abused at Indian Wells, while Venus Williams said she “heard whatever he heard”.
Former world number one Osaka said while trying to hold back the tears after her exit: “I’ve been heckled before and it didn’t really bother me.
“But being heckled here … I’ve watched videos of Venus and Serena get heckled here and if you’ve never watched it, you should watch it.
“I don’t know why, but it went into my head and got replayed a lot. I just want to say thank you and congratulations [to Kudermetova].”
Serena Williams boycotted the competition for 14 years before making her Indian Wells return in 2015.
Osaka, competing in her first tournament since January’s shock early Australian Open exit, initially put that unneeded distraction behind her by taking the next point, but she wasted two break opportunities and Kudermetova successfully held to move 2-0 ahead.
The 24-year-old was in tears as she prepared to serve her next game and held further discussions with the court supervisor after going 3-0 down.
She could not recover and, after losing the first set 6-0, Osaka suffered the only break of serve in the seventh game of the second set to lose the contest fairly resoundingly.
Kudermetova will now face Marie Bouzkova for a place in the last 16 after the Czech recovered to see off home hopeful Jessica Pegula 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.
Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka also made it through on Saturday with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over lucky loser Astra Sharma, setting up a meeting with Elena Rybakina.
Leyla Fernandez saved four match points against Amanda Anisimova in a dramatic match that came to an end when the American retired through illness.
After losing the opener 6-2, Fernandez took the second set to a tie-break but felt unable to continue. Anisimova will meet Shelby Rogers in a rematch of last year’s last-16 encounter.
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