Naomi Osaka didn’t face a break point in cruising to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over ninth-seeded Ons Jabeur on Wednesday in the first round of the National Bank Open in Toronto.
A former World No. 1, Japan’s Osaka needed only one hour and 12 minutes to notch her fifth win over a Top-20 opponent this year in her return from maternity leave.
Three of those victories have come on hard courts, where Osaka has collected her four Grand Slam crowns.
“Everyone knows I really love hard courts. I wasn’t thinking too much. It was very instinctual,” Osaka said after the match. “Honestly, when I play the best players, like Ons, I tend to play better.
“I’m feeling quite confident in myself as a person and as a player, and I think that showed a little.”
Osaka converted 4 of 6 break points and hit 14 winners against Tunisia’s Jabeur, who had seven double faults and landed just 36 percent of her first serves (21 of 58).
In the day’s only second-round match, third-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States topped the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-4. Pliskova aided Pegula by committing eight double faults and by winning just 17 percent of her second-serve points.
Spain’s Paula Badosa, who won last week in Washington, extended her winning steak to six straight matches with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Denmark’s Clara Tauson.
Padosa recorded seven aces, converted 4 of 12 break points and saved 4 of 5. Tauson notched 10 double faults.
Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, seeded 13th, needed three hours and 19 minutes to outlast the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (1).
Haddad Maia saved 9 of 14 break-point opportunities and converted 6 of 12.
Russian Diana Shnaider, seeded 14th, also went three sets in eliminating Great Britain’s Harriet Dart 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2). Shnaider converted 6 of 23 break points, while Dart converted 6 of 9.
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, the 15th seed, downed Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.
In other matches in the Round of 64, American Ashlyn Krueger won 6-3, 6-2 over Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, and Amanda Anisimova defeated fellow American Caroline Dolehide 6-1, 6-4. American Peyton Stearns won 6-4, 6-3 over Russia’s Anna Blinkova.
Other winners were Poland’s Magda Linette, Canada’s Marina Stakusic, Belgium’s Elise Mertens, Great Britain’s Katie Boulter and China’s Yue Yuan.
–Field Level Media
