Naomi Osaka maybe didn't have a desired ending to her Miami Open run but it doesn't change the fact that she still absolutely enjoyed her time at the tournament.
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On Monday, the Japanese was aiming to get her fourth consecutive win but also register her first top-10 victory in 2025. And after winning the opening set against No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini and having the upper hand in the match early on, the former world No. 1 disappointingly failed to close out their round-of-16 match and the Italian recovered to win 3-6 6-4 6-4.
"Miami I love you so much. Thank you for the energy and the memories, Ill be back sooner than you think," Osaka wrote on Instagram after the exit.
Coach Patrick Mouratoglou appeared to be happy with what he saw from the 27-year-old in Miami and encouraged her to keep going because he was certain that she was getting closer to her goal of returning to being one of the best.
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"It was a high level match. You did good. Soon you will do great," the French coach wrote in the comment section of the Japanese's post.
Osaka also earned praise from Paolini
En route to making the Miami round-of-16, the Japanese beat Yulia Starodubtseva, Liudmila Samsonova and Hailey Baptiste. But there was one specific thing she wanted - to defeat "a big dog." And since Paolini reached two Grand Slam finals last year and is currently ranked at No. 7 in the world, there's no doubt that the Italian was one of those big dogs.
In the end, Osaka didn't manage to do it in Miami but her top-10 rival acknowledged that she played some great tennis.
"It was a good-quality match. I think her level today was really high," Paolini said.
