Osaka Ousted By Kudermetova Amid Indian Wells Crowd Controversy; Gauff Turns 18, Faces Halep

Twenty-one years after the infamous incident between the Indian Wells crowd and the Williams family, the Indian Wells crowd made headlines again last night.

Facing Russian Veronika Kudermetova, Naomi Osaka was heckled during the opening game of the match when what sounded like a female yelled out “Naomi, You Suck!”.

Osaka heard it and got emotional. Moments later she went the umpire to ask to address the crowd but the request was denied.

Here's what disturbed Naomi Osaka. Naomi was in tears #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/LW16f9pZv4

— NoFirstName claycourtdal (@SMSTNS) March 13, 2022

Amid the controversy, Kudermetova played excellent power tennis, outslugging the 4-time Grand Slam winner for a 6-0, 6-4 win.

But after, Osaka had her moment to address the crowd.

“I just wanted to say thank you,” Osaka said. “To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before and it didn’t really bother me. Like heckled here. I’ve watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, and if you’ve never watched it you should watch it. And I don’t know why, it went into my head and it got replayed a lot. I’m trying not to cry.

“I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations. Just thank you.”

Naomi Osaka asked for the microphone after her loss against Veronika Kudermetova. Here's what she said. pic.twitter.com/0Pj9WnNe4t

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 13, 2022

Osaka has been open about her battle with mental illness which kept her off the tour last summer. She’s slated to play in Miami next.

Earlier in the day, the event suffered yet another high seed to tumble as No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka fell to Jasmine Paolini 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. The shaky serving Sabalenka was besieged by 10 double faults and she won just 31% of her second serves.

The Belarussian falls to 8-9 since the US Open where she crashed out to Leylah Fernandez in the semifinals.

Fernandez was also in action yesterday and the US Open finalist got a retirement from Amanda Anismova at the start of the third due to an illness. Anisimova took the first 6-2 but lost a 7-0 breaker to drop the second. Anisimova had a 5-3 lead in the second and four match points.

Defending champion Paula Badosa was a victor along 2-time Indian Well winner Victoria Azarenka. Petra Kvitova and Anett Kontaveit also advanced while Jessica Pegula and Jelena Ostapenko were upset.

Today, Coco Gauff celebrates her 18th birthday with a big showdown with Simona Halep. Halep stopped Gauff’s breakout run at 2019 Wimbledon.

“She’s a great player, two-time Grand Slam champion,” said Gauff. “She’s a great mover and I think that, well, I know that there will be really long rallies and I kind have to expect always one more ball to come back.

“And she does a really good job of changing direction and hitting those angles, so I’ll have to run a little bit too. Yeah, I think for me I just, I think the mental challenge will be the most important. When I play against her expect her to hit good shots and try not to be too stressed about it and just playing at one point at a time.”

Iga Swiatek takes on Clara Tauson and Emma Raducanu returns as the third round gets underway. Madison Keys also faces Alison Riske.