MIAMI (REUTERS) – A dominant Naomi Osaka beat German thirteenth seed Angelique Kerber 6-2 6-3 on Thursday (March 24) in a one-sided conflict of two former world quantity ones to achieve the third spherical of the Miami Open the place Garbine Muguruza and Simona Halep withdrew with accidents.
Four-times Grand Slam champion Osaka made a robust begin in opposition to Kerber, grabbing an early break to go 2-0 up and by no means regarded again in a 29-minute opening set throughout which she received 91% of her first-serve factors.
Osaka denied Kerber any probability of combating her method again into the match as she capitalised on her serve and had complete management of her sport as she went on to shut out the 60-minute encounter on her third match level when her opponent despatched a forehand lengthy.
The victory was Osaka’s first in opposition to Kerber for the reason that 2017 US Open and denied her opponent a fifth consecutive win of their head-to-head collection, which the German now leads 4-2.
It additionally marked Osaka’s first win over a top-20 participant since final 12 months’s Miami Open.
“She’s like the first high-seeded player I’ve beaten this year. I went into the match just really wanting to play my game and I still have memories of all the matches she’s beaten me before,” Osaka stated throughout her on-court interview.
“I feel like I came into the match wanting to dictate and actually I wanted to come into the net if I needed to … that’s something I’m practising and hopefully as I keep playing it will get better.” Up subsequent for Osaka, who arrived in Miami following a second-round loss at Indian Wells the place she was diminished to tears after being heckled throughout the match, can be unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova, who beat US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 6-4 7-6(3).
Spanish seventh seed Muguruza, who was purported to face qualifier Lauren Davis within the second spherical, withdrew with a shoulder harm and stated she hopes to be prepared for claycourt motion in Madrid in late April.
Earlier on Thursday, twenty first seed Halep withdrew forward of her second-round match in opposition to Australian wild card Daria Saville as a result of a leg harm the previous world primary stated would hold her out of motion for 3 weeks.
“I had been struggling with the thigh since my semi-final in Indian Wells and hoped it would improve, but I went for an MRI last night and unfortunately it showed a tear,” twice Grand Slam champion Halep wrote on Twitter.
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