Naomi Osaka has warmly embraced the guidance of Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams’ famed mentor, after triumphing in her opening match under his expert eye.

Former world No. 1 Osaka had parted ways with her long-standing coach Wim Fissette earlier this month and swiftly aligned with Mouratoglou, whose decade-long partnership with tennis titan Williams is well documented.

Osaka, who made her comeback to competitive tennis after the birth of her daughter Shai last year, has expressed some vexation over her current form her world ranking having slipped to 73. However, victory unfolded for the Japanese powerhouse at the China Open when she dispatched Italian Lucia Bronzetti in two straight sets (6-3 6-2) on Wednesday.

Following her win and speaking of Mouratoglou on wtatennis.com, Osaka revealed: “I think the fact that he was Serena’s coach for me made me want to avoid him just because his persona is so big. Like, this isn’t rude because I found out it’s not true, but I didn’t know if he was a good coach or he coached Serena.”

She continued to express her newfound respect and enthusiasm for working with the French coach: “Then I met him, talked to him, worked with him on the court. He absolutely is a really good coach. I’m really glad that he’s taking this project on, as well.”

Osaka also shared her personal ethos driving this significant change, and made a pointed remark on not having regrets in the game.

She added: “I think I’m at a stage in my life that I don’t want to have regrets. I’d rather pull the trigger on something and I don’t want to say ‘fail’ but I feel like I really need to learn as much as possible in this stage of my career. Patrick seemed like the guy with, I guess, the information that I wanted to learn from.”

Meanwhile, Chinese wild card Zhang Shuai has finally broken her losing streak of 24 consecutive matches with a victory over American McCartney Kessler, winning 7-6 (5) 7-6 (1). This marks her first singles win since January 2023.