No. 3 seed Naomi Osaka rolled along in Nottingham on Wednesday, dispatching Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2.
The 20-year-old was never challenged, facing no break points and allowing only one of her service games to reach deuce. Her overwhelmed Czech opponent, meanwhile, had five double faults to no aces and won barely half of points on her first serve.
Osaka took hold from the start, dominating rallies and depositing countless winners into spacious open courts. She made quick work of her first break opportunity at 3-3, then closed out the set in Allertova’s next service game.
The rising Japanese star broke in all four games she held a break point.
She opened the second set right where she left the first, breaking Allertova’s first serve game en route to a stretch of nine consecutive games. Osaka then eased to a victory more straightforward than her first round win over Sachia Vickery, in which she dropped the first set before cruising from there.
Osaka will face fifth seed Mihaela Buzarnescu in the quarterfinals, after the Romanian fought her way to a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over American qualifier Irina Falconi.
Falconi made a whopping 78 percent of first serves and Buzarnescu saved just one of six break points she faced, but the 30-year-old broke seven times herself in a topsy-turvy match that took more than two hours. Buzarnescu raced to a 5-0 lead in the deciding set, then failed to convert three match points across two games before finally booking her place in the quarterfinals.
No. 2 seed Magdalena Rybarikova had a less successful three-set match, falling 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 to Mona Barthel. The German put just 51 percent of first serves in play but won 56 percent of second serve points and saved nine of 10 break points.
Rybarikova actually won 100 total points to Barthel’s 99, but the defending Wimbledon semifinalist continued to give her opponent opportunities in the third set. Barthel blew a match point at 5-3, then saw off break points two games later that would have allowed Rybarikova to serve for the match. Instead, she served to force a tiebreak and saved two match points before eventually succumbing.
