Naomi Osaka is looking to return to winning ways in Japan as she looks to qualify for the WTA Finals.
The Japanese star is looking forward to a successful return home after a difficult title defence at the US Open which ended at the hands of Belinda Bencic.
To add to her current woes, Osaka ended her coaching relationship with Jarmere Jenkins which means she enters her home tournament in search of a third different coach this season.
Now Osaka knows that a poor Asian swing could mean losing her place at the season-ending finale at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.
It will be a relatively relaxed start for the world number two in her namesake town next week as she gets a Bye and will play a qualifier in the second round.
A potential quarter-final against in-form Petra Martic or Yulia Putintseva, who has beaten her twice this season, awaits.
Although defending champion Karolina Pliskova is missing from the field, there are still big threats in the draw waiting to challenge the top seed.
One of them is another former US Open champion Sloane Stephens, who is also struggling to find confidence this season.
The American starts against either Camila Giorgi or a qualifier in what is a packed quarter of the draw, with Garbine Muguruza taking on Su-Wei Hsieh and the prospect of Elise Mertens taking on Anastasija Sevastova.
Other key matches include 5th seed Madison Keys taking on Daria Kasatkina, who is need of some big wins ahead of her Moscow title defence.
There is also the rematch of the classic Nottingham final between 7th seed Donna Vekic and Caroline Garcia. While in the same quarter, 2nd seed Kiki Bertens will await the winner of Dayana Yastremska against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Here is the full draw in Osaka, with main draw action starting on Monday:
Main draw @torayppo in Osaka, where Naomi Osaka, Kiki Bertens, Sloane Stephens, and Angelique Kerber are the top seeds.
Big 1R matches:
Muguruza-Hsieh
Mertens-Sevastova
Keys-Kasatkina
Vekic-Garcia
Yastremska-Pavlyuchenkova
Mladenovic-Doi pic.twitter.com/peUys2pGnJ— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) September 14, 2019
