Osaka powers into China Open quarters

Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-04 15:57:03|Editor: ZX
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BEIJING, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- World No. 8 Naomi Osaka of Japan breezed into the quarterfinals of the China Open here on Thursday with a domineering straight-set victory over Germany's Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-2.

As it has been the case in her previous matches here in Beijing, Osaka had to overcome some shaky serving out of the gate, with a double fault in her first service game helping her opponent drag her to break point. But Osaka managed to hold it together to seal the first set point.

Osaka began feeling her shots on her first returning game, breaking Goerges next two services with a domineering backhand firing off winners down the line. She then relied on this ability to counterpunch from the baseline throughout the match, converting every single one of her break points and getting 84 percent of her returns in play.

The second set opened with Osaka breaking the German twice. Goerges fought her to deuce at 3-0, but failed to convert either of her break point opportunities to go 4 set points down and allow Osaka to run away with the proceedings on court from there.

After the match, Osaka credited her victory to "just staying really focused and trying to return well."

"I feel like we both have really good serves," she added.

The German spit out 31 unforced errors to 16 for her opponent, who notched 6 aces and 93 percent of her first service points overall to seal the win in just over one hour.

Osaka will face China's Zhang Shuai in the quarterfinals, who knocked out world No. 3 Angelique Kerber 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 on Thursday.

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