Miami Open 2022 live: Naomi Osaka beat Alison Riske– Naomi Osaka is back into the quarterfinals of the Miami Open for the second year running after a 6-3, 6-4 win over American Alison Riske in Monday’s Round of 16.. Follow all the live updates on InsideSport.IN
Miami Open 2022 live: Naomi Osaka into the quarterfinals in Miami, beating Alison Riske 6-3, 6-4- Follow Osaka beat Riske LIVE
Miami Open 2022 live: Naomi Osaka beat Alison Riske– Osaka is in a vastly different place than she was at this time last year. She was ranked World No.2 when she arrived in Miami last year as the reigning Australian Open champion and a quarterfinal loss to Maria Sakkari snapped her 23-match winning streak. Now ranked No.77, Osaka has now won three consecutive matches (plus one walkover) for just the second time since she reached the last eight a year ago. She won three matches at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 in January before withdrawing due to injury.
Hitting her stride in Miami 🏃♀️
🇯🇵 @naomiosaka sets up an enticing quarterfinal clash with Collins after a straight-sets win over Riske!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/1QR09QDOEv
— wta (@WTA) March 28, 2022
Playing Riske for the first time since 2019, Osaka snapped a 1-1 head-to-head tie between the two with a 92-minute victory.
“I felt a bit rusty because I haven’t played in three days, so [I was] just kind of trying to get back confident and into the groove of things,” Osaka said. “The last time I played her, it’s been a couple of years, and knowing that she’s a really tough opponent and knowing she’s a bit unorthodox, I would say, the trajectory of her balls were quite difficult for me.”
Grateful for you, @naomiosaka 🙏#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/zir8CkmlBw
— wta (@WTA) March 28, 2022
Miami Open 2022 live: Naomi Osaka into the quarterfinals in Miami, beating Alison Riske 6-3, 6-4- Follow Osaka beat Riske LIVE
Match management: Three games were crucial to Osaka’s effort in victory. She started the match with a nearly 10-minute service hold that extended to six deuces, saving four break points along the way. She broke Riske in the next game and held onto the lead for the set, losing just seven subsequent points on serve. She did need six set points to take the lead, though, as the American saved five in her own titanic service game at 5-2.
Miami Open 2022 live: Naomi Osaka beat Alison Riske– In the second set, she bounced back from an early 2-0 deficit and denied Riske three further chances to lead 3-1. Losing serve in the second set snapped a streak of 24 consecutive holds for Osaka in the tournament, but she’d face no further adversity on serve. Later, Osaka broke for a 4-2 lead from a 40-15 down, and hit 40 winners in the match in total.
“She just fought for every point. Also, I know her serve speed isn’t that fast, like I was watching it every time I got aced. But it’s kind of hard for me to read her serve, so I think that that was working really well for her, or it’s just another day in the office for her. Yeah, I think her serve was really good,” Osaka added.
“I also think normally I can kind of overpower people, but she was on the forehand, slapping it back in an odd way that made it kind of hard for me to hit away from her. That’s what I knew I needed to do in order to beat her in the match. It kind of just felt like she had answers for some of the things that I was doing, so we were both adjusting from there.”
Osaka is now 25-18 all-time against American players and 3-1 this year.
Miami Open 2022 live: Naomi Osaka into the quarterfinals in Miami, beating Alison Riske 6-3, 6-4- Follow Osaka beat Riske LIVE
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