Losses for Serena, Stosur at Miami Open

Serena Williams has been beaten by in-form Japanese star Naomi Osaka in the first round of the Miami Open, while Samantha Stosur also crashed out.

American tennis player Serena Williams

Serena Williams has been sent tumbling out of the Miami Open after losing to Naomi Osaka. (AAP)

Samantha Stosur has joined Serena Williams on the Miami Open scrap heap.

Stosur suffered a 6-3 6-4 first-round loss to reigning Olympic champion Monica Puig hours after Williams lost her opener 6-3 6-2 to in-form Japanese star Naomi Osaka.

Fresh off her breakout triumph at Indian Wells, Osake continued her hot streak by dumping out the 23-times grand slam champion in 77 minutes.

The match ended on an ugly unforced error by Williams, who hit a wide open forehand long to send Osaka into the second round, where she will face world No.4 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.

"I was extremely nervous coming on to the court. I don't know if anybody knows this but Serena is my favourite player," Osaka said in an on-court interview.

"So just playing against her is kind of like a dream for me. I'm very grateful I was able to play her and it is even better that I was able to win."

The 36-year-old Williams was playing her fourth match since the birth of her first child in September.

Osaka looked fresh despite having played seven matches in Indian Wells to capture her first career title on Sunday.

Williams has endured a first-round defeat only four other times, most recently at the 2012 French Open. The latest loss came at a tournament she has won a record eight times and considers her hometown event.

The match was the last for Williams at Key Biscayne, 140km south of her home in Palm Beach Gardens, as the tournament is moving next year to the Miami Dolphins' stadium.

Some felt it was unfair the Miami Open allowed Williams, an eight-times champion at the tournament, to play Osaka in the first round.

"Serena should have a special seeding, but also WTA should use the most current ranking," tennis commentator and former world No.1 Lindsay Davenport said on the Tennis Channel.

"The men do it. It's too big a tournament to have something like this happen."

Osaka's win over Williams was her latest victory over some of the biggest names in the sport.

She's already defeated former grand slam champion Maria Sharapova, fifth seed Karolina Pliskova and world No.1 Simona Halep in Indian Wells.

Stosur had been hoping to turn the table on Puig after the Puerto Rican saved match points before sending the Queensland crashing out in the first round of the Australian Open in January.

Alas, Australia's former US Open champion dropped serve twice in each set in bowing out in one hour, 24 minutes.


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Source: AAP



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