Tennis News: Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka started her bid to win the third US Open title of her career with a hard-fought victory in straight sets.
Involved in the first round of the 2026 US Open which was quite fierce, the tennis player who has won four Grand Slam titles managed to overthrow Anastasia Zakharova 7-6, 7-6 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The tennis player, who won titles in New York in the 2018 and 2020 seasons, took the lead in both sets, after he led 5-2 in the first set and 5-3 in the second. However, on both occasions, world number 101 Zakharova managed to recover and force a tiebreak.
The former world number 1 then won the first set tiebreaker with 8/6, then won the second set tiebreak with 7/3 to seal victory in a little more than 2 hours.
The tennis player who won two Australian Open titles entered the court wearing black as a tribute to former US basketball star Allen Iverson and wore an all-white dress when walking onto the court.
“This is my tribute to Iverson,” said Osaka. “I really admire it. Nike said ‘basketball’. So I said, okay, if you want basketball, I’ll give you a basketball feel. I love expressing myself through clothes. I’m glad you appreciate it.”
The victory over Zakharova marks the tennis player’s tenth victory in the 2026 Grand Slam season, with her total so far recording 10-2. This is the first time he has won ten wins in one season at a Grand Slam since winning 12 in the 2019 season.
Apart from that, this victory was the 11th victory for a Japanese tennis player in a hard-court tournament this season, including qualifying for the semifinals in Washington and the quarterfinals in Toronto.
Awaiting Osaka in the second round of the US Open was the Czech tennis player, Katerina Siniakova, who won 6-3, 6-2 over the Italian tennis player, Elisabetta Cocciaretto. The Japanese tennis player leads 2-1 in their head to head.
In the same draw, Uzbekistan’s Maria Timofeeva beat Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-3, 7-5 and booked a second round match against 23rd seed Elise Mertens or Spain’s Kaitlin Quevedo.
In other action, seventh seed Karolina Muchova appeared merciless when she crushed Australian Sinja Kraus 6-3, 6-0 and advanced to the second round to face British tennis player Katie Boulter.
Meanwhile, the 21st seed, Anna Kalinskaya, won 6-4, 6-3 over compatriot Anna Blinskova to qualify for the second round of the US Open to face Chinese player Wang Xinyu.
Article Tags: us open, naomi osaka, katerina siniakova, karolina muchova
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/tenis/hasil-us-open-naomi-osaka-awali-perjalanan-demi-gelar-ketiga-di-new-york