Sick Naomi Osaka Encouraged By Hopman Cup Performance As Japan Loses To Russia - UBITENNIS
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Sick Naomi Osaka Encouraged By Hopman Cup Performance As Japan Loses To Russia

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During what has been a roller coaster week, Naomi Osaka is seeing light at the end of the tunnel following her latest match played at the Hopman Cup.

The world No.68 has been marred by setbacks in recent days, pulling out of Japan’s clash against the USA two days ago due to feeling unwell. Continuing to battle illness, she returned to the court on Thursday to take on Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. A player ranked ranked more than 50 places higher than her in the WTA rankings.

Despite the odds being pulled against her, Osaka managed to prevail 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5), in a marathon encounter lasting more than two hours. During the clash she produced eight aces and claimed 74% of her first service points. Registering her first win over a top 20 player this season.

“I’m so happy to get through that match,” a relieved Osaka told hopmancup.com. “I feel like being able to play against such a good player at that level, without feeling 100 per cent, I feel like I should be proud of myself.
“I just wanted to give the crowd an entertaining match and not play bad in my final match.”

At the age of 20, Osaka is relishing in the fact many have tipped her to be a future star of the women’s game. So far is her career, she has reached one WTA Final in Tokyo and has defeated two top 10 players (Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams).

“It’s an honour. I feel like there’s a lot of players in the 90s age group that are really good,” said Osaka. “Hopefully I can be as good as them, they all push me, so I think I just want to live up to that every week.”

Despite Osaka’s triumph, it wasn’t enough to secure the win for Japan, who lost 1-2 to Russia. In the men’s singles Yuichi Sugita was dismissed 6-4, 6-2, by Karen Khachanov, who fired 19 winners during the match. It was the first singles win achieved by Khachanov this week in Perth following losses to Jack Sock and Roger Federer.

“Finally I’ve won a match,” the world No.45 joked. “It’s a nice feeling to play the best players in the world. We had a tough group, but I thought I played well in some tough matches.
“Today, it’s the start of the new year so you’re pumped, you’re trying to find your game and I’m happy to get the win.”

Russia secured the overall win in the Mixed Doubles with a dominating 4-1, 4-0 victory in exactly 30 minutes.

Suffering their third defeat of the week, Japan will finish at the bottom of Group B.

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Roman Safiulin cruises past Brandon Nakashima at the Chengdu Open

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Roman Safiulin cruised past Brandon Nakashima 6-4 6-4 in 88 minutes to reach the second round at the Chengdu Open. 

 

Safiulin hit 22 winners to Nakashima’s 17 and did not face a break point. He broke once in each set. 

“I think the most important thing was to hold my serve and just try to get some break points and try to use them. That was the main goal for the match”, said Saifiulin. 

Safiulin reached his first Grand Slam quarter final at Wimbledon moving up to world number 43 in the ATP Ranking. The Russian player set up a second round match against fourth seed Daniel Evans. 

Corentin Moutet beat Chinese wild card Mu Tao 6-2 6-2. The Frenchman set up either Miomir Kecmanovic or qualifier Benjamin Lock. Moutet earned an early break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Mu broke straight back to draw level to 2-2. Moutet won the final four games with two breaks to close out the first set 6-2. The Frenchman broke twice in the fifth and seventh games to seal the second set 6-2. 

Taro Daniel came back from one set down to beat Alexander Vukic 4-6 6-2 6-2. Daniel will face either Christopher O’Connell or Alibek Kachmazov. Vukic broke serve in the fourth game of the first set to take a 3-1 lead. Daniel broke back to love in the seventh game and held serve to draw level to 4-4. Vukic broke for the time in the 10th time to win the first set 6-4. 

Daniel broke in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Vukic broke back to draw level to 3-3. Daniel earned a second break in the ninth game to seal the second set 6-2 forcing the match to the decider. Daniel broke twice in the first and seventh games to win the second set 6-2. 

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Caroline Garcia, Victoria Azarenka and Ons Jabeur to reach the Round of 16 at the Guadalajara Open

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Number 3 seed Caroline Garcia saved two match points to beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 at the Guadalajara Open AKRON. 

 

Garcia was a point away from losing to Sasnovich for the first time after five consecutive wins as the world number 89 was serving for the win at 6-4 6-5. 

Garcia fended off a break point in her first service game before earning a decisive break at love at 3-3.

Garcia set up a third round match against Hailey Bapriste, who saved a match point to upset Karolina Pliskova. 

“We saw a few forehands directly in the wall behind the court, but it is what it is. I am very happy with the way I managed to fight at the end of the second set. I lost a little bit my serve at the end of the first set, but I managed to come back. It’s a great win, and I definitely wins”, said Garcia.  

Former world 1 Victoria Azarenka beat Dayana Yastremska 6-4 7-6 (7-5). Azarenka earned a break in the third game to seal the first set 6-4. Yastremska broke serve at love in the second game to open up a 2-0 lead. Azarenka broke straight back in the third game. Yastremska broke for the second time at love in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Azarenka broke serve for the second time before saving two set points at 5-4 in the second set. Both players traded the mini-break three times in the tie-break. Azarenka earned his fourth mini-break to win the tie-break 7-5. 

Azarenka set up a third round match against Veronika Kudemertova, who won both of their head-to-head matches in Dubai in 2022 and at the Adelaide International 2 in 2023. 

Ons Jabeur cruised past Alycia Parks 6-2 6-2 in 59 minutes to improve her head-to-record against the US record to 3-0. Jabeur had previously beaten Parks in Charleston in 2021 and Berlin in 2022. 

Jabeur is aiming her second WTA 1000 title of her career after winning at the Madrid Mutua Open in 2022. 

Jabeur broke with a passing winner in the first game. Parks made 26 unforced errors in the first set. 

Jabeur earned an early break at love in the first game of the second set. Parks broke back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Jabeur won the next four games to seal the second set 6-2. 

Jabeur converted five of her break points. Parks hit six aces and made seven double faults. 

Jabeur set up a Round of 16 match against Martina Trevisan, who beat Jasmine Paolini 7-5 6-2. The Tunisian player beat Trevisan 6-2 6-2 in Charleston in 2021. 

Maria Sakkari beat Storm Hunter 6-2 6-4 to set up a Round of 16 match against Camila Giorgi. Sakkari leads 3-0 in her previous head-to-head matches against Giorgi. Emma Navarro beat number 4 seed Madison Keys 6-2 7-6 (7-5) to set up a Round of 16 match against Leylah Fernandez.

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Jannik Sinner starts his autumn campaign in Beijing with the goal to qualify for the ATP Finals

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Jannik Sinner will play his next tournament at the ATP 500 tournament in  Beijing later this month to secure his spot in the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. 

 

Sinner is currently fourth in the Race to Turin with 4365 points and has a good chance to qualify for the end-of the season tournament. He was an alternate two years ago and replaced injured Matteo Berrettini in the 2021 ATP Finals in Turin. The Italian player won two tournaments in 2023 in Montpellier and in Toronto clinching his first Masters 1000 title. He also reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon before losing to Novak Djokovic, his second Masters 1000 final in Miami, the semifinal in Indian Wells, the final in Rotterdam and the Round of 16 at the Australian Open. 

Carlos Alcaraz (Wimbledon champion), Novak Djovovic (Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open and Cincinnati champion) and Danil Medvedev (Masters 1000 champion in Miami and Rome) have already secured their spot in the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. 

Just 630 points separate fifth placed Andrey Rublev (3640 points) and ninth placed Taylor Fritz (3010 points). Rublev is aiming to qualify for the fourth consecutive year for the ATP Finals. The Russian player won his first Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo and in Bastad and reached the finals in Dubai, Halle and Banja Luka, the quarter finals at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon. Rublev is aiming to qualify for the ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas is currently ranked sixth in the ATP Race to Turin with 3570 points and Holger Rune (3055 points). Tsitsipas won the title Los Cabos and reached two final at the Australian Open and in Barcelona, the semifinal in Rome, the quarter finals in Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Roland Garros. 

Rune won his second consecutive title in Munich and reached two Masters 1000 finals in Monte-Carlo and Rome, two Grand Slam quarter finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, two semifinals in Acapulco and Queen’s.  

Two-time ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev reached the quarter finals at the US Open and is currently ranked eighth in the ATP Race to Turin. The Danish player last won two consecutive ATP Tour-level matches at Wimbledon. 

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