Osaka getting into gear with dominant victory
Naomi Osaka took time away from playing last year. She is playing like she is making up for lost time.
She doesn’t think of it like that. But the way she set about dismantling her second-round opponent, American Madison Brengle, in the opening set was clinical.
Naomi Osaka belts a forehand during her win over Madison Brengle.Credit:Getty Images
The winner of two of the last three Australian Opens, and the defending champion here, Osaka began her second-round match like she was reasserting herself.
She won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4 over Brengle, and moved a step closer to the much-anticipated meeting with world No. 1 Ash Barty in the fourth round on Sunday night.
That is assuming both get through that far but the way Osaka accounted for Brengle it would be surprising if she didn’t. The way Barty has played the first round the same is said of her.
Osaka skipped through her first set in 20 minutes without dropping a game or breaking a sweat. Main courses take longer to arrive at restaurants.
When Brengle finally won a game at the start of the second set she put her hands to the air in celebration like she had won the match. The crowd applauded warmly and Brengle mouthed “thank God” as she laughed at the small victory. Complete indignity had been averted, but there’s no embarrassment about struggling for answers against a player like Osaka, when she was playing like that opening set.
Naomi Osaka serves it up to Madison Brengle.Credit:AP
The short American is ranked No. 54 in the world and has beaten Serena Williams before. She is only five foot six in the old measure, with one of the slowest serves in tennis. What she has got is a dogged competitor’s ability to just get the ball back. Staying in more points helped her sweat on any fluctuation in Osaka’s game.
Osaka’s first misstep came in the first game of the second set when she found herself at the net to volley into a wide-open court and hit it flush into the net tape. She surprised and amused herself with the fluffed shot.
Emboldened by winning her first game, Brengle had nine break points across Osaka’s next three service games but finally converted on the 10th try to go up a break.
Naomi Osaka makes her feelings clear.Credit:Getty Images
The balance of the contest had levelled off. Osaka was struggling on serve and trying to force herself to stop the momentum slipping away by playing aggressive tennis that delivered as many unforced errors as winners. Going down the break kicked Osaka into gear. She immediately broke back and then closed out the match.
Osaka has now played five matches since her break from tennis and has won all of them, but she is not yet quite back at her best.
She looks like the player who swept through the tournament last year. She has the same superstitions – stepping over the Melbourne sign at the back of the court, keeping her bottles all lined up just right, not stepping on the baseline, all your regular OCD tennis player stuff that would be eccentric except it’s so commonplace among players. She also has the power on her serve, the ability to place her backhand where she wants and balance in her game.
It’s hard not to compare her to the player who won here last year and wonder if she is back to that the level and how far she will go in this tournament. But she doesn’t.
“Honestly, I am trying not to do that,” she told Jim Courier on court after the match.
“I feel like if I compare myself to the past I will not be satisfied, so I am trying to take it one day at a time.”
Watch all the action from Melbourne Park on Nine, 9Gem, and 9Now.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
Most Viewed in Sport
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article