Andorra's Vicky Jiménez Kasintseva Falls to Naomi Osaka at Indian Wells

Vicky Jiménez Kasintseva, Andorra's world number 97, has been eliminated from the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells after a competitive straight-sets defeat to Japan's Naomi Osaka in the second round. The 20-year-old lost 5-7, 2-6 in one hour and 28 minutes against the 16th-ranked former world number one and four-time Grand Slam winner.

Jiménez put up a strong fight, rallying from 0-4 down in the first set—where Osaka claimed the first seven points—to level at 5-5. The Japanese player broke serve late to claim the set on her third set point. The second set stayed level until 2-2, when Osaka broke first, saved three break points to hold, and then reeled off four straight games to close out the match despite Jiménez having two chances to break back.

The result caps a breakthrough run for Jiménez, who qualified for the main draw with a comeback win over Britain's Katie Boulter (2-6, 7-5, 6-2) before upsetting American Caty McNally 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4 in the first round. She started strongly against McNally, breaking early for a 6-2 win, traded breaks in a tight second set-deciding tiebreak, then broke first in the third and held firm to win 6-4 after McNally levelled at 4-4.

Her form now includes seven wins in nine recent matches across the Mérida Open—where she reached the quarterfinals—and Indian Wells, with four top-100 victims. This lifts her provisionally to 86th in the WTA rankings, her career best inside the top 100, ahead of Monday's official update. The climb follows a strong end to 2024 at 107th, after dips including 303rd at the end of 2023.

"We're very happy with the current moment," her father and coach Joan Jiménez said. "Vicky is playing at a high level with lots of confidence... We've beaten four top-100 players in these weeks." Ahead of facing Osaka, he called it "a big milestone" and expressed excitement to "keep living this dream."

Separately, Italian Lucrezia Stefanini, Jiménez's first qualifying opponent, revealed receiving death threats before their match, including a gun photo, family details, and orders not to win. "They threatened me and my family... It's not fair to put this pressure on me," she said, adding she fought hard regardless.