Naomi Osaka wins her 1st match of new season in a return from injury

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka made a winning return to the court after an almost three month absence Monday in the first round of the ASB tennis classic in Auckland, undeterred by protests outside the stadium against her Israeli opponent.

Osaka beat qualifier Lina Glushko 6-4, 6-4 in a tight contest in her first match since October when a back injury at the China Open ended her 2024 season.

All the hallmarks of Osaka's game were present Monday: the powerful serve, forceful ground-strokes particularly from the forehand side and the aggression. She looked relaxed and comfortable on court with no sign of her recent injury.

Osaka had to deal with a swirling wind on center court and with delays in play caused by the chants of a small group of protesters which were clearly audible within the stadium. There was a longer break as Osaka was poised to serve out the first set when Glushko had to leave the court for treatment to a hip injury.

"I just heard a lot of shouting, and then people on the sidelines were telling me there was protests,” Osaka said.

“I had no idea what the score was most of the time. "I just kept trying to tell myself one point at a time and trying not to get discouraged.

“Thankfully it came out in my favor in the end.”

Osaka was supported at courtside by her new coach Patrick Mouratoglou who previously had a long-term association with Serena Williams.

She broke Glushko in the third game of the first set and held comfortably to win 6-4.

The second set was tighter. Osaka broke Glushko in the third game but Glushko converted her only break point of the match to level at 2-2.

Glushko held to love in the seventh game to lead 4-3 but Osaka seemed to step up at that point, held with two aces for 4-4, broke for 5-4 and held serve to love to clinch the win.

Her serve was solid throughout. She sent down seven aces and won 74 percent of first serve points. Her first serve averaged around 180kmh (111mph) and her slice around 140kmh (87mph).

“I think she's a really amazing opponent. I've never played her before,” Osaka said. “It was good to have to scrap a little for the first round.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Namoi Osaka of Japan plays a shot against Lina Glushko of Israel during a women's singles match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament at Manuka Doctor Arena in Auckland, New Zealand Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Alan Lee/Photosport via AP)

Lina Glushko of Israel plays a shot against Naomi Osaka of Japan during a women's singles match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament at Manuka Doctor Arena in Auckland, New Zealand Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Alan Lee/Photosport via AP)

Lina Glushko of Israel serves against Naomi Osaka of Japan during a women's singles match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament at Manuka Doctor Arena in Auckland, New Zealand Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Alan Lee/Photosport via AP)

Namoi Osaka, of Japan, celebrates her win against Lina Glushko, of Israel, during a women's singles match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament at Manuka Doctor Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Alan Lee/Photosport via AP)

Namoi Osaka of Japan plays a shot against Lina Glushko of Israel during a women's singles match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament at Manuka Doctor Arena in Auckland, New Zealand Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Alan Lee/Photosport via AP)

Namoi Osaka of Japan plays a shot against Lina Glushko of Israel during a women's singles match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament at Manuka Doctor Arena in Auckland, New Zealand Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Alan Lee/Photosport via AP)

Namoi Osaka of Japan serves against Lina Glushko of Israel during a women's singles match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament at Manuka Doctor Arena in Auckland, New Zealand Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (Alan Lee/Photosport via AP)

President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, leaders of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot who Donald Trump has said should be jailed for their roles in the inquiry.

Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people in a ceremony Thursday at the White House, including Americans who fought for marriage equality, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the president's longtime friends, former Sens. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said in a statement. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”

Biden last year honored people who were involved in defending the Capitol from a mob of angry Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, or who helped safeguard the will of American voters during the 2020 presidential election, when Trump tried and failed to overturn the results.

Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, and Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, led the House committee that investigated the insurrection. The committee's final report asserted that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the election he lost to Biden and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol. Thompson wrote that Trump “lit that fire.”

Cheney later said she would vote for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race and campaigned with the Democratic nominee, raising Trump's ire. Biden has been considering whether to offer preemptive pardons to Cheney and others Trump has targeted.

Trump, who won the 2024 election and will take office Jan. 20, still refuses to back away from his lies about the 2020 presidential race and has said he would pardon the rioters once he is back in the White House.

During an interview with NBC's “Meet the Press,” the president-elect said that “Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps," claiming without evidence they “deleted and destroyed” testimony they collected.

“Honestly, they should go to jail,” he said.

Biden is also giving the award to attorney Mary Bonauto, who fought to legalize same-sex marriage, and Evan Wolfson, a leader of the marriage equality movement.

Other honorees include Frank Butler, who set new standards for using tourniquets on war injuries; Diane Carlson Evans, an Army nurse during the Vietnam War who founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation; and Eleanor Smeal, an activist who led women's rights protests in the 1970s and fought for equal pay.

He's also giving the award to photographer Bobby Sager, academics Thomas Vallely and Paula Wallace, and Frances Visco, the president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Other former lawmakers being honored include former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J.; former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, the first woman to represent Kansas; and former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who championed gun safety measures after her son and husband were shot to death.

Biden will honor four people posthumously: Joseph Galloway, a former war correspondent who wrote about the first major battle in Vietnam in the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young"; civil rights advocate and attorney Louis Lorenzo Redding; former Delaware judge Collins Seitz; and Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, who was held with other Japanese Americans during World War II and challenged the detention.

The Presidential Citizens Medal was created by President Richard Nixon in 1969 and is the country’s second highest civilian honor after the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It recognizes people who “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”

This combo photo shows Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., speaking during the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago, left; and Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney speaking during a town hall with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at The People's Light in Malvern, Pa., Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, right. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley/Matt Rourke)

President Joe Biden makes a statement on the latest developments in New Orleans from Camp David, Md., Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)