January 19, (THEWILL) – With a 6-0 6-4 victory against Madison Brengle, Naomi Osaka continued her resurgent defence of the Australian Open.
Osaka wrapped up the opening set in just 20 minutes, winning the first break of serve in the second game to take the score to 15. Brengle could not stand up to Osaka’s relentless hitting, as she raced away with the rest of the set to claim the bagel.
When she took 0-30 on Osaka’s service early in the second set, there were hopes for a comeback from the American, but the world number 14 recovered to win the first game, albeit after missing what appeared to be an easy volley at the net, which she laughed off.
Brengle finally broke through in the eighth game of the set, holding serve to one of the greatest audience outbursts of the match. The world number 54 was fired up after that, and she earned three break points in the next game, all of which were saved by Osaka. Brengle took advantage of a fourth break point in the seventh game to take the lead.
The four-time Grand Slam champion continued to struggle on her serve, and she offered up and saved three break points in her next service game.
That jolted Osaka off of her slide, and she only needed one breakpoint to tie the match.
Her serve also improved, eventually holding to love, and she then blitzed through Brengle’s service game, winning without conceding a point.
“I returned pretty well, that’s not my usual stat but I have been working on it through the off-season so I’m glad it came in handy today,” the defending champion said.
“I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I feel like if I compare myself to the past I’ll never be satisfied, so I’m just trying to take it one day at a time. The goal for me is just to have fun and I’m really grateful for my team because I feel like we’re accomplishing that.”
In the third round, Osaka will face another American Amanda Anisimova.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
