Naomi Osaka stunned by frosty handshake from beaten Australian Open opponent

Naomi Osaka was left puzzled by the frostiest of handshakes from opponent Sorana Cirstea as she advanced to the third round of the Australian Open.

Osaka won 6-3 4-6 6-2 to defeat the 35-year-old Romanian, who was playing in her final Australian Open before retirement.

A fuming Cirstea stormed away from Osaka after a brief handshake at the net, before turning around to exchange words with the former world No 1.

Osaka was baffled by the confrontation and brought it up immediately during her on-court interview, even though she was not directly asked about the incident.

Asked what it took to advance to the third round, Osaka replied: “Apparently a lot of ‘come-ons’ as that’s what she was angry about but whatever.”

It drew a mixed reaction from the crowd and Osaka added: “I mean, I tried to play well. I think I made a lot of unforced errors but I tried my best. She’s a great player. I think this was her last Australian Open, so, sorry she’s mad about it.”

Cirstea was frustrated by Osaka saying “come-on” to pump herself up between serves and when this was pointed out to her during the on-court interview, an exasperated Osaka replied: “I think so, but she could have asked me.”

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Serving down 4-2, 30-30 in the third set, Cirstea spoke to the umpire after Osaka had appeared to say “come on, come on” after the Romanian had found the net with her first serve.

“Is that okay? To do come-ons between points?” Cirstea asked the umpire. “So I can talk between points? Yeah, can I go ‘come-on’?”

But it led to a lapse in concentration from the world No 41, who missed a forehand long on the very next point, then blasted another forehand out to go down a double-break. That was greeted by a much louder “come-on” from Osaka.

Cirstea was beginning to boil over in the final game of the match, as she began to swing even harder for the ball. When Osaka won match point, she celebrated with another shout of “come-on” before walking to the net for the hand-shake.

Afterwards, Cirstea said did not want the incident to overshadow her 18th and final year at the Australian Open, where she reached the fourth round in 2017.

“We just had a chat. Nothing big. Again, I don't think that's the main thing after tonight match. Again, it was a good match. She was much better than me towards the end. Yeah, she deserved the win. So that's all I will say.

“Look, this is my last Australian Open. I have been playing for 20 years. It's more than a five-second discussion at the end that I had with Naomi. This is my last Australian Open and so I think the moments are bigger to me than to talk about a five-second chat I had with Naomi at the end.

“There was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players that have been on a tour for a long time. It stays between us. For me this was my last match at the Australian Open, so I think I'll like to stay with that.”

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Osaka said she would apologise to Cirstea for the comments she made during her on-court interview. “For me, no one's ever complained about it before,” she said. “Also the umpire didn't tell me I was wrong. The umpire said I was fine. That was kind of what I thought. I thought we moved past it.

“I've never been involved in something like this before, so I don't know if we're supposed to leave it on the court and be like, Hey, how you doing? I'm a little confused. I guess that emotions were very high for her.

“I also want to apologise. I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do.

“I mean, if she wants to talk about it, then yeah. But when I'm pumping myself up, in my head I'm not like, now I'm going to distract the other person. It's purely for me.”

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After her show-stopping entrance onto court for her first-round win over Antonia Ruzic, which saw Osaka walk onto the Rod Laver Arena in a white veil, wide-brimmed hat and parasol, there was a slightly more toned-down look for the four-time grand slam champion for her match against Cirstea. "For me, it's just something fun I love to do on the court,” Osaka said. “I don't really talk that much but I like to express myself through clothes.”

Still, Osaka walked out onto the smaller Margaret Court Arena in the blue-green jellyfish-inspired jacket and the same white flowing dress and trousers, which she removed for the warm-up. Meanwhile, some of Osaka’s fans in the crowd were wearing replicas of her hat and veil.

“I'm really glad that you guys loved it - you guys look really cool by the way," Osaka said to the fans. “I grew up with Serena and Venus (Williams), (Maria) Sharapova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and for me it's a great honour if there's a kid out there somewhere that comes and plays this tournament and remembers me in a way.”

Osaka, who won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, will now play Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis in the third round.