Naomi Osaka made a confident start to her title defence at the 2020 Australian Open with a comfortable 6-2 6-4 win over Marie Bouzkova.
The Japanese player, 22, had a mixed 2019. She played brilliantly at times, and she was quite a long way off her best on occasion too.
But the signs are good for Osaka so far this year. She won three matches and played 12 hard-fought sets against high-class opponents in Brisbane. And she looked sharp in her opening match at Melbourne Park.
After the first three games were won easily by the server, the World No.3 faced two break points in game four. She saved them both with accurate serves.
Then Osaka went on the attack. She unleashed a succession of powerful groundstrokes to earn three chances to break.
Bouzkova saved two of them with good tennis while the Japanese player wasted the other one with a mishit backhand. Osaka then overpowered the Czech to win to earn another break point, which she squandered by missing another backhand.
The World No.3 stuck to her task though. She hit another fierce return to gain a fifth chance to break. This time she whipped a stunning forehand across court to seize it.
Osaka played with more confidence after that. She hammered an excellent backhand down the line to clinch the hold that put her 4-2 up. Then she was gifted a second break by a double fault and an error from Bouzkova.
In the next game, the Japanese moved 40-30 ahead and then clinched the set with a superb cross-court forehand winner.
Osaka recovers well after falling behind
Osaka made a sloppy start to the second set. Consequently, Bouzkova went 1-0 up and then had two break points for a 2-0 lead.
However, the World No.3 re-focused just in time. She sent down two flawless aces to bring the score back to deuce. Then she produced a third moments later to seal the hold.
Despite this escape, Osaka did not dominate the second set. She made a series of errors and eventually gifted Bouzkova a break of serve in game six.
This enabled the Czech to establish a 4-2 lead. But the Japanese player quickly quashed any predictions of a deciding set when she broke back immediately.
Osaka then found a nice rhythm for the rest of the match. She won the next three games easily to seal a relatively smooth passage into round two.
The Japanese player will face a Chinese opponent in the last 64. Zheng Saisai overwhelmed qualifier Anna Kalinskaya 6-3 6-2 to book her meeting with the World No.3.
Elsewhere in Melbourne Park, Sofia Kenin beat qualifier Martina Trevisan 6-2 6-4. Julia Goerges hammered Viktoria Kuzmova 6-1 6-2 in just 56 minutes. Petra Martic overcame Christina McHale 6-3 6-0. And Paula Badosa won her first Grand Slam match as she thrashed Johanna Larsson 6-1 6-0.
