Naomi Osaka loses first grass-court match of 2025 to Liudmila Samsonova

Naomi Osaka’s grass-court campaign began with a first-round exit at the Berlin Tennis Open on Tuesday, the former world No. 1 falling, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 to Liudmila Samsonova.

Osaka was playing her first match since exiting Roland Garros in the first round and was unable to convert a one-set lead over the 2021 Berlin champion after two hours and 36 minutes on Steffi Graf Stadium.

The four-time Grand Slam champion appeared to be rounding into form in her second season since returning from maternity leave in 2024, winning her first title since giving birth to daughter Shai at a WTA 125K in Saint-Malo and reaching the fourth round of a WTA 1000 event at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

A tough loss to Paula Badosa in Paris was an abrupt end to her clay swing, but one that gave Osaka time to prepare for grass, a surface on which she has yet to match the highs achieved on hard courts.

Osaka has not been to the third round of Wimbledon since 2018—before she became a Grand Slam champion—but the slick grass courts looked to accentuate her game in the early goings against Samsonova, a player she’s beaten twice in three meetings.

A former world No. 12, Samsonova first broke onto the scene at this very tournament in 2021, scoring back-to-back Top 20 wins over Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic to win her first title as a qualifier.

Coming off a second-week finish at Roland Garros, Samsonova shook off two service breaks in the opening set to steady herself for the second, serving her way to a tiebreaker where she won the Sudden Death’s final four points.

Samsonova and Osaka exchanged breaks to start the third but Samsonova scored what looked to be a crucial break in the fifth game, putting her on course for the finish line.

Osaka, currently ranked No. 57 in the world, made a brave last stand, serving to stay in the match and holding two break points as Samsonova served for it herself. But the unseeded 26-year-old held firm and ended the match on her second opportunity.

Samsonova booked an intriguing second round against No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula, who is also playing her first tournament of the pre-Wimbledon warm-up swing.