Osaka is beaming as the champion inches closer to a showdown with Barty.

-


 Naomi Osaka improved her chances of defending her Australian Open title with a calm victory over Madison Brengle on Wednesday, edging closer to a showdown with top seed Ashleigh Barty.


On Rod Laver Arena, the Japanese 13th seed breezed through the first set but had to battle hard in the second to beat the 54th-ranked American 6-0, 6-4 in 65 minutes and advance to the third round.


After Amanda Anisimova defeated Tokyo Olympic champion and 22nd seed Belinda Bencic 6-2, 7-5, she will face another unseeded American.


Anisimova, who won the Melbourne Summer Set championship in the build-up to the Grand Slam, is on a seven-match winning streak and should be a tougher opponent.


But if Osaka can win she faces the prospect of a mouth-watering fourth round battle with world number one and Wimbledon champion Barty, who has dropped just three games so far and looks in ominous touch.


The pair could meet early due to Osaka's seeding -- her lowest at a Slam since the 2018 US Open -- after a truncated 2021 when she took time out to deal with mental health issues.


"I'm just trying to take it one day at a time," she said. "The goal for me is just to have fun and I'm really grateful to my team because I feel we are accomplishing that.


"I returned pretty well today," she added. "I've been really working on it during the off-season so glad it came in handy."


the four-time grand slam champion, who has won two of the past three australian opens, wasted little energy on brengle in the first set.


she immediately broke to take control and raced through in just 20 minutes, with her opponent hitting zero winners and managing just 10 point


laughing and smiling on court, osaka held serve to open the second set before brengle won a huge round of applause by finally getting on the scoreboard for 1-


it lifted the american and osaka faced a harder fight, with her unforced error count mounting.


Brengle's pressure finally paid off in game seven when she broke on her fourth match point when Osaka fluffed an overhead volley.


But the Japanese star quickly regrouped to secure the win.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greenwood's girlfriend claims Mason forced himself on her, saying, "Move your f*** legs up you t***."

-
Image
  Mason Greenwood's partner Harriet Robson has now leaked audios of the 20-year-old forcing himself on her, in addition to the horrible images she provided. The 22-year-old model is heard expressing she "didn't want to have sex," but Greenwood insists on forcing her to comply. Mason is also heard shouting: "Move your f*** legs up you t***!" in one of the released audios. Let me push you one more time and see what happens." The following is one of the audio files she published on Instagram (audience discretion is suggested due to the distressing nature of the audio): Harriet Robson just posted this voice note on her story. Mason greenwood is finished, what a vile fucking creature. @ManUtd get rid of him. pic.twitter.com/XI2U6DIAAj — H (@1hxssan) January 30, 2022 Harriet Robson just posted this voice note on her story. Mason greenwood is finished, what a vile fucking creature. @ManUtd get rid of him. pic.twitter.com/XI2U6DIAAj — H (@1hxssan) January...
Read more

Elsa Joubert, The Iconic SA author dies of COVID19 aged 97

-
Image
The 97-year-old writer died on Sunday in Cape Town due to Covid-19 related causes. Elsa's son, Nico Steytler, confirmed that his mother died in Mediclinic Cape Town due to the virus. Elsa Joubert's well-known book Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena) was translated into 13 languages and most recently turned into an award-winning film directed by Christian Olwagen and starring Clementine Mosimane. In May, Elsa wrote an open letter published on Netwerk24 pleading to be able to see her relatives as she was in the "last months and weeks" of her life. "I'm suffering. Telephone calls, and videos, and Skype, and much more help, but it's not enough. It's not the same," she wrote in the letter addressed to her house doctor Hans Woermann. According to South African History Online, Elsa, born Elsabé Antoinette Murray Joubert, was born on 19 October 1922 in Paarl where she grew up, and studied...
Read more

Angry youths burn Ebonyi commissioner’s house, banish husband

-
Image
Irate youths of  Elugwu Ettam Community in Okpuitumo Ikwo Local government area of Ebonyi state at the weekend set ablaze the country home of Celestine Okah. Okah is the husband of Ebonyi Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Wendy Uchechi Okah. According to a source, the incident happened on Saturday. The source said Okah was accused of involvement in some crimes in the community, which he vehemently denied. His denials did not stop his summoning by the community’s village head who ordered him to swear an oath to prove his innocence in keeping with the customs and traditions of the community. But, Okah, it was gathered, refused to swear to the oath. He instead resorted to calling the attention of the Police. His refusal and involvement of the Police infuriated the youths around who pounced on him before moving to the location of his house where they vandalised and set the property ablaze. Not done, the youths proceeded to burn anothe...
Read more