Naomi Osaka battles past Andrea Petkovic in Melbourne

Friday, 07 January 2022 at 13:32

Naomi Osaka defeated Andrea Petkovic in straight sets to move at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 event continuing to build up form and confidence.

The Japanese player started off strongly in this match displaying confidence in her play and striking the ball extremely hard and clean. Petkovic was unable to withstand that early pressure and perhaps some of that even caught her off guard. At times she looked quite impressed with what Osaka was doing on the court. She won only 1 of 7 serves on the 2nd serve and Osaka won that set with 6-1.

In the 2nd set, we saw a lot more battle as Petkovic raised her level considerably and Osaka dialed back the aggression a bit. They traded breaks a few times in the match with Petkovic even holding a 4-2 midway through the set. Osaka had issues of her own on the 2nd serve and Petkovic was able to use that to her advantage.

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Osaka battled back to make it 4-4 which is when the match become even more interesting mostly by attacking Petkovic on her 2nd serve. The German had a lot of issues winning those points as she only won 4 of 16 played on her 2nd serve. In the end, Osaka was able to win the match with a late push to secure the 2nd set with 7-5.

José Morgado

@josemorgado

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Naomi Osaka gets a 13th consecutive win at Melbourne Park, beating Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 7-5 to reach the semifinals of the Melbourne 1 WTA 250. She will face Veronika Kudermetova tomorrow. Playing well... [getty]