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Naomi Osaka (zimbio.com)
Naomi Osaka has issued a warning to her rivals on the tour following her one-sided domination of Angelique Kerber in the first round.
The Japanese 19-year-old proved too powerful for the lacklustre defending champion to tame, prevailing 6-3, 6-1. Playing on the biggest court of the tournament, Osaka hit an impressive 22 winners and claimed 71% of her service points. Illustrating her potential as a future star of the women’s tour.
“I tried not to think how good she was while I was playing her. I just tried to focus on what I could do to win the match, if that makes sense.” She said about playing Kerber.
Osaka’s triumph followed the heartbreak she suffered in the tournament a year ago. Facing Madison Keys in the third round, she failed to capitalise on her 5-1 lead in the deciding set. It was a bitter pill for the youngster to follow and one that she continued to struggle with whilst playing Kerber.
“I felt the same type of nerves come up, 4-1 in this match, so I wanted to tell myself just to keep playing how I was playing and didn’t let the nerves get over me as much as last year.” Osaka explained.
Heading into the final grand slam of 2016, the world No.45 has achieved a win-loss of 18-16 on the tour this season. One of her best performances occurred earlier in the month at the Rogers Cup. As a qualified she reached the third round before she withdrew from her match against Karolina Pliskova due to a abdominal injury.
Relishing in her Kerber scalp, Osaka believes she has was it take to rise to the top. So far in her career, she has reached a ranking best of 40th and reached one WTA finals in Japan.
“Moving forward, I feel like I know that I can play with the top players now, so I don’t have to be as nervous as I was today.” She said.
Osaka will play either Denisa Allertova or Rebecca Peterson in the second round.
The off-court surprise
It wasn’t just on the court where Osaka had to deal with her emotions. Following her first round win, she received a surprise visit from her mum.
“My mum, apparently she was here. I didn’t know that. She flew in yesterday, but she kept it a secret, so I saw her after my match, and I was, like — I was so surprised.” She recounted.
“Then I just started crying a little bit because I was really shocked.”
Osaka’s mother is from Japan and her father is from Haiti.