Indian Wells: World No.1 and defending champion Naomi Osaka powered past American Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-2 Monday to book a fourth-round meeting with resurgent Swiss Belinda Bencic at Indian Wells.
Japan’s Osaka, whose second straight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open propelled her to the top of the rankings, traded breaks with Collins early in the first set.
But she got the decisive break in the ninth game, giving herself a break point with a backhand winner before pouncing on a short ball and belting a forehand winner to give herself a chance to serve for the set.
An increasingly confident Osaka broke Collins at love for a 2-1 lead in the second. She finished out the next game for a 3-1 lead and led 5-1 before Collins saved a match point to hold and make Osaka serve out the match.
Osaka, whose first career title came at this prestigious WTA premier mandatory event last year, advanced to a meeting with Belinda Bencic, the 23rd seed who defeated Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2.
Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams also found it tricky facing fellow American Christina McHale for the first time, but she pulled back early breaks in each set to win 6-2, 7-5.
“I never played her, so you’re out there learning what they do well, what shots they select,” Williams said, adding that it wasn’t until the second set that she felt ‘OK, I understand.’
“I felt comfortable with trying to control the point from there,” said Williams, who fired 20 winners and converted seven of her nine break point chances.
She’ll fight for a quarterfinal berth against Mona Barthel, a 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 winner over Julia Goerges in an all-German contest.
AFP