Venus Williams suffers nail-biting loss in Bad Homburg, Naomi Osaka eases through

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-venus/M7dojKaa/"]Williams[/a], 46, is due to play doubles with her sister Serena at Wimbledon, which starts in a week's time, and was also given a wildcard to enter the Bad Homburg singles.[/p][p]She took her time to get going against qualifier [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/begu-irina/vwIzxgEI/"]Irina-Camelia Begu[/a] of Romania, losing the opening set 6-2 before battling back to take the second 6-4.[/p][p]Williams led 5-3 in the decider and was two points from victory at one point but Begu dug in to force a tie-break, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/begu-i-vwIzxgEI/williams-v-M7dojKaa/?mid=0Mx8QNM7"]which she won 8-6[/a].[/p][p]Sixth seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osaka-naomi/MDM4BKiA/"]Osaka[/a], 28, had little trouble seeing off Pole [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/frech-magdalena/W6pL8zuB/"]Magdalena Frech[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/frech-m-W6pL8zuB/osaka-n-MDM4BKiA/?mid=2cub50Yh"]6-4, 6-1[/a].[/p][embed guid="e24b65ec-0bb8-4b63-9256-5d74ce08bbfa" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsRH6AWVEjg" social-type="youtube" /][p]The first set was close until a rain-enforced break at 5-4, after which, the four-time Grand Slam champion lost only one more game.[/p][p]Osaka has never won a grass court tournament, with her best result a semi-final at Nottingham in 2018.[/p]