'Good luck': Naomi Osaka starts Australian Open with 'sweet moment'

Naomi Osaka kicked off her Australian Open campaign on Monday and fans noticed a ‘sweet moment’ before her match.

Third seed Osaka was handed a tricky assignment against World No.39 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her first match on Monday.

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But with the anticipation for the first Grand Slam of the year building, fans noticed ‘sweet moment’ from Osaka before her match.

Osaka won the 2019 Australian Open and subsequently walks past her name, along with the other former champions, as she enters Rod Laver arena.

And cameras picked up Osaka touching her placard just seconds before emerging from the tunnel into the stadium.

After withdrawing from her Gippsland Trophy semi-final on Saturday with a niggling shoulder injury, Osaka was thrust into the first match of the Open on centre court on Monday.

But there was no sign of an injury as Osaka swept aside her opponent.

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Osaka started her campaign in the best possible fashion after taking down Pavlyuchenkova 6 -1, 6-2.

Osaka needed an hour and 33 minutes to get past Pavlyuchenokva, a formidable early-round opponent ranked No.39 in the world and boasting the rare distinction of having reached the last eight of all four grand slams throughout her career.

"Definitely I was really nervous coming into this match," Osaka said.

"I know that I'd played her before and it was really tough. So I'm happy to play well.

"Hopefully I'll do well here but I'm just here to have fun."

with AAP

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