August 01, (THEWILL) — Naomi Osaka continued her strong form at the WTA Canadian Open with a straight-sets victory over Jelena Ostapenko on Friday.
The Japanese star, currently ranked 49th in the world, dominated the 22nd-seeded Latvian 6-2, 6-4 in a 72-minute match. Osaka’s aggressive baseline play and consistent serving proved too much for Ostapenko, who struggled with unforced errors.
This marks Osaka’s third career win over Ostapenko without dropping a set.
The 27-year-old former world No 1 broke Ostapenko early in the first set, capitalising on a double fault to seal it in 30 minutes. In the second set, Osaka built a 4-2 lead before Ostapenko briefly rallied, saving a match point and breaking back.
However, Osaka closed out the match by breaking Ostapenko at love in the final game, finishing with a backhand error from her opponent.
Osaka now advances to the fourth round in Montreal, where she will face either third seed Jessica Pegula or Anastasija Sevastova.
A win would mark her first WTA 1000 or Grand Slam quarter-final since returning from maternity leave in early 2024.
The Japanese player has shown steady progress this season, with this performance reinforcing her resurgence.
The Canadian Open remains a key warm-up event ahead of the US Open, with Osaka’s performance signalling her readiness to compete at the highest level.
It will be with seeing if she can maintain momentum against tougher opposition in the coming rounds and if that will carry through to the grand slam competition.
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.
