PALESTINIAN rights protests forced play to pause yesterday at the ASB Classic tournament between Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and Israeli player Lina Glushko in Auckland.

Osaka made a winning return to the court following an almost three-month absence in the first round of the ASB tennis classic.

Palestine Support Network Aotearoa (PSNA) had called on supporters to protest against the participation of Glushko, an Israeli army reservist, who has served in the army.

Glushko had sparked further outrage after she stated: “In these tough days, what my country is going through I can’t be more proud and happy to play with the Israeli flag next to my name and win matches.”

PSNA responded: “Politics and sport are always strongly linked and Glushko’s presence is part of Israel’s strategy to normalise its racism and apartheid against Palestinians. New Zealanders will have none of it.”

Criticism has already been hurled at ASB because of its investments in companies such as Motorola which are complicit in building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Despite the protests and a swirling wind on centre court, all the hallmarks of Osaka’s game were present — the powerful serve, forceful ground-strokes particularly from the forehand side and the aggression. She looked relaxed and comfortable on court, beating her opponent 6-4, 6-4 in Osaka’s first match since October when a back injury at the China Open ended her 2024 season.

“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 favour in the end.”

• Meanwhile Nick Kyrgios marked his return from injury with an entertaining doubles victory alongside Novak Djokovic in the Brisbane International.

Kyrgios and Djokovic, who faced each other in the Wimbledon singles final in 2022, teamed up to defeat Austria’s Alexander Erler and Germany’s Andreas Mies 6-4 6-7 (4) 10-8, with Kyrgios sealing the win with an ace.

The 29-year-old, who had played just one match in more than two years due to injury, said in a courtside interview: “This injury has been brutal for me so I wasn’t taking any of this for granted.

“I don’t know how many Aussie summers I’ve got left so I was just looking around and loving the energy and just so happy to be back out here.

“We promised that we were going to do this one more time before either he [Djokovic] goes or I go so I’m glad we’re still alive!”