WTA Madrid: Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep march into quarters
Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep and Kiki Bertens were there to open Wednesday's action in Madrid and they all had a great day at the office, storming towards the place in the last eight. Two-time champion Simona Halep destroyed Viktoria Kuzmova 6-0, 6-0 in 44 minutes for one of her most dominant wins ever, losing 12 points in the entire encounter that has been the shortest on the WTA Tour in 2019. Serving at 37%, Kuzmova stood no chance against the mighty opponent and she never looked like a serious rival to world no. 3 who didn't put a foot wrong from start to finish to advance into the quarters after a light practice.
Simona lost six points on serve and had the upper hand all the time, controlling the points with deep and precise groundstrokes that the Slovak found no way how to deal with. Viktoria called for a coach already after the ninth game when she was already 6-0, 3-0 down, powerless to change anything in the remaining three games that went to Halep's way too. World no. 1 Naomi Osaka didn't play well in the first part of the match against Sara Sorribes Tormo yesterday and she looked better on the court today, ousting Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 23 minutes for the third win over the Belarusian in as many matches.
The Japanese hit nine aces and saved three out of four break points to mount the pressure on the other side of the net, stealing half of the return points and scoring four breaks from ten opportunities. Six out of eight games of the opening set went to reach deuce and Naomi was the dominant figure in the crucial moments, saving both break points she faced and moving ahead with breaks in games two and eight. Sasnovich gave her best at the beginning of the second set but it wasn't enough, scoring a break in game three and playing loose service games in between to fall 3-1 down, with Osaka marching towards the finish line with three easy holds for the fourth quarter-final in 2019.
The 7th seed Kiki Bertens impressed in a 6-1, 6-2 triumph against Anastasija Sevastova in 59 minutes, beating the Latvian here in Madrid for the second year in a row. Kiki delivered fury from the initial shot, dropping eight points on serve and never facing a break point, shining on the return as well for five breaks of serve from 13 opportunities, racing into a 4-0 advantage and never looking back to join Halep and Osaka in the last eight.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2VSzWMe
No comments