The 2019 Australian Open women’s singles champion Naomi Osaka began her 2021 tournament with a straight sets win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Melbourne Park. Osaka, the third seed, appeared to show no sign of the “niggling injury” that saw her pull out of the warm-up Gipplsand Trophy semi-final on Friday. She raced to a first set victory in just 33 minutes, sealing the 6-1 win by breaking the Russian world No 39’s serve after pouncing on an error. Pavlyuchenkova began the second set brighter by eventually winning the opening game on her serve after holding off an Osaka break. Dialed in. @naomiosaka takes the opening set 6-1 vs Pavlyuchenkova in 33 minutes. #AO2021 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Ndgtb5UJ8o — #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 8, 2021 The Russian’s resistance ended in her next service game as the Japanese world No 3 showed off her full repertoire of shots to break again and take a 2-1 lead. Victory became routine after that dismissing concerns that last year’s US Open champion had a tough draw in Melbourne. Naomi Osaka calls out Covid-19 ‘hate, racism and blame’ toward Asians Pavlyuchenkova held service to make the score 3-2 and taking her deuce to the following game but the Russian’s resistance ended inside 35 minutes with Osaka serving for the match and taking the set 6-2. Osaka said that she had been nervous going into the game. “I was really nervous coming into this match and knew it was going to be tough,” she said on court after her win. “I’m just really happy to see people in the stands. It’s been really lonely in New York.” The No.3 seed @naomiosaka moves on! She defeats Pavlyuchenkova, 6-1, 6-2. #AO2021 pic.twitter.com/vyWGPOYaLD — wta (@WTA) February 8, 2021 While the US Open was played without fans, a limited number are allowed in at Melbourne Park. Osaka, who prepared for the Australian Open by calling out “hate, racism and blame” toward the Asian community over the Covid-19 pandemic, will face the winner of Slovenia’s Polona Hercog and France’s Caroline Garcia in the second round.