Straightforward win for Osaka, through to third round
Naomi Osaka put in a solid second-round performance to eliminate Zheng Qinwen’s conqueror and grass-court specialist, Czech Katerina Siniakova (6-3, 6-2)
Naomi Osaka (Antoine Couvercelle for MTG)
Katerina Siniakova opened up the lower half of the top women’s draw with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 win over China’s Zheng Qinwen (seeded No. 5), but it may well be Naomi Osaka who stands to benefit. The former world No 1 proved herself to be very solid in eliminating the Czech in the second round of Wimbledon on Wednesday (6-3, 6-2).
On paper, Siniakova, with her big flat shots, variations and drop shots, had plenty of arguments to upset Patrick Mouratoglou’s protégé, who did enough but was far from her best in the first round against Talia Gibson (6-4, 7-6).
But the Japanese player took control of the match in a way that was as progressive as it was irresistible, overcoming the disappointment of an unconfirmed break at the very start of the first set. In particular, Osaka did a better job of controlling the vicious wind that swept across Court 2 at several points during the match, and led Siniakova to eight double faults and only 50% of points (and games) won on her serve.
“I’m kind of going with the flow,” Osaka said in her press conference afterwards. “I had a talk with Patrick before this tournament about expectations, so I’m literally taking it one point at a time, and I’m not trying to, I guess, think about the rounds too much.”
First second week in a major since 2021?
Osaka, who won 69% of her points from the start, managed to maintain this rigour in all areas of her game and, as in the first round, benefited directly from her aggression by forcing her opponent to commit more errors than she did (37-25).
This is the first time since Rome in May that Osaka has won two matches in a row. There, she reached the third round, as she did at the Australian Open in January, where she retired in the third round against Belinda Bencic.
A third-round win over American Ashlyn Krueger, seeded No 31, or Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova would propel her into the last 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the 2021 Australian Open, the last of her four major wins.
