New York: Japanese teen Naomi Osaka first conquered her shaky nerves and then crushed defending champion Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-1 here Tuesday to reach the second round of the US Open tennis tournament.
The 19-year-old daughter of a Haitian father and Japanese mother captured her first victory over a top 10 opponent by dispatching the German sixth seed, but first she had to fight off bad memories.
A year ago on the same Arthur Ashe Stadium court, Osaka squandered a 5-1 lead in the final set and lost to American Madison Keys in a third-round match.
“When I stepped on the court and I heard all the people and I saw how big the stadium was, I got a little bit freaked out, but I tried to hold it in,” Osaka said after the match.
“I never played a defending champion and also, I was playing on Ashe again, which wasn’t really the best memory for me.”
But that was then and this was now as Osaka dominated the former World No.1 Kerber, but as the match creeped closer to conclusion, a nagging thought popped up – “I really hope I don’t do what I did last year.”
She didn’t. Osaka polished off Kerber, the first defending US Open champion to crash out in her opener since Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2005. The German was never in the match committing 46 unforced errors in comparison to the 20 made by Osaka.
Osaka waited until after the match to focus on Kerber’s status and skills and take full pride in her achievement of eliminating the German. “It means a lot, I feel, especially since how I ended last year’s US Open. But I tried not to think how good she was while I was playing her,” said the Japanese.
“I felt really relieved, especially since I was so nervous on the last point. I just barely returned the serve. I just really didn’t want to play a long point on the last one, so I was really glad when she made an error,” added Osaka.
Even though the former World No.1 was shown the exit door, the present top-ranked player Karolina Pliskova eased into the US Open second round with a no-nonsense 6-2, 6-1 victory over Poland’s Magda Linette.
The Czech, who will next face Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg or American qualifier Nicole Gibbs, outclassed her 72nd-ranked opponent after the roof on Arthur Ashe was closed just before the second set as rain started to fall.
Pliskova broke her opponent twice in the opening set to take a commanding lead with a fine backhand passing shot as Linette struggled on serve. She then again broke her opponent in the fifth game of the second set before finishing the match off with a second-serve ace.
In the other women’s singles match completed on the day, Madison Keys of the US beat Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 7-6(8/6).
At a glance
Naomi Osaka bt Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-1
Kaorline Pliskova bt Magda Linette 6-2, 6-1
Madison Keys bt Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-6(8/6).
agence france-presse