Naomi Osaka started into her first tournament after her US Open victory with a strong performance.
What a performance of Naomi Osaka in her first match after the big victory in New York: At the Premier Event in Tokyo she defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6:2, 6:1 and showed an almost flawless performance. At least on the outside there was no sign of nervousness about the home game, especially after the big win in Flushing Meadows.
“She’s a great player. I was just happy to perform like that in front of you,” Osaka said to the audience, who even entertained her in Japanese. Osaka beat a total of 25 winners in the almost one hour short match – with only 9 unforced mistakes. She wouldn’t allow a break point for Cibulkova. Osaka now meets Barbora Strycova or Anett Kontaveit.
Garbine Muguruza, on the other hand, continues the sad last weeks: The two-time major winner lost to qualifier Alison Riske 1:6, 2:6, while Caroline Garcia, who was seeded to two after a 6:4, 2:6, 7:5 over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Karolina Pliskova by a 4:6, 6:4, 6:4 over Daria Gavrilova, are still in the tournament.
The Tokyo Single Draw