Naomi Osaka wins first round match at U.S. Open - in her own style

SCREEN CAPTURE

Naomi Osaka wore a mask during warm-ups but took it off during play.

Naomi Osaka arrived at the U.S. Open for her opening-round match on Monday wearing a black facemask with Breonna Taylor's name in white letters. honoring the former Louisville EMT who was shot and killed by police while she was sleeping in her apartment earlier this year.

"I'm aware that tennis is watched all over the world, and maybe there is someone that doesn't know Breonna Taylor's story," Osaka told reporters. "Maybe they'll like Google it or something. For me, just spreading awareness. I feel like the more people know the story, then the more interesting or interested they'll become in it."

The 4th-ranked tenni player beat Misaki Doi 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, although not fully  recovered from a hamstring injury she suffered in Friday's semi-final match at the Western & Southern Open.

During the Western & Southern tourney, she withdrew on Wednesday as other professional athletes in the NBA, MLB, and WNBA refused to play in protest of the police and vigilante violence against demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Tourney officials decided to halt all matches on Thursday in support of the athletes but resumed play on Friday.

The 22-year old player, who was ranked No. 1 two years ago, said she brought seven masks, -- enough to reach the finals.

Osaka, who is of Haitian and Japanese descent, plays for Japan where she was born  though she lives and trains in the U.S.Her decision to withdraw from last week's tournament was her way to protest the “continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police.”

Her next opponent is Italy’s Camila Giorgi, who she'll play Wednesday (Sept. 2).