2020 US Open: Naomi Osaka survives teen scare against Kostyuk; Kerber wins
Naomi Osaka reached the fourth round of the 2020 US Open with a hard-toiled, three-set win over Marta Kostyuk on Friday. The fourth-seeded Japanese won 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2 in two hours and 33 minutes. This is the third straight year that Osaka has made it to the second week at Flushing Meadows.
It was an easy enough start for Osaka and she encountered no problems as she raced away to clinching the first set. The second set was, however, a different story with several moments. The Ukrainian went up by a break even as Osaka’s game dipped substantially on the other side of the net. Towards the latter part of the set, Osaka did get the break back but wasn’t able to do enough to thwart Kostyuk from levelling the match in the tie-break.
Osaka regrouped herself after her second-set distraction and the third set proceedings reflected how well she had done so. She secured two service breaks and gave no purchase on her own serves to close out the match as she had started it – convincingly.
On-court, after the match, Osaka said, “It’s probably experience. I know she’s very young, and I think I’ve had more matches that are like this. She was very good. I’m kind of scared how good she is going to be in the future.”
The former world no. 1 will take on 14th seed Anett Kontaveit in the pre-quarterfinals.
2020 US Open: Seeds make their way into week twoEighth seed Petra Martic had it easy against Russian Varvara Gracheva in their round-of-32 match. The Croatian won 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 27 minutes to reach the pre-quarters where she will play 23rd seed Yulia Putintseva. Putintseva beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
2016 US Open champion Angelique Kerber also advanced to the second week at Flushing Meadows. The 17th seed took down American Ann Li 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 16 minutes.
Lastly, in the second-round match between Sachia Vickery and Iga Swiatek that had to be suspended because of the rain, the Polish teen came back from a set and break down to beat the American 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4. Swiatek will play Azarenka in the third round of the 2020 US Open.
Photo Credit: Simon Bruty/USTA
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