Naomi Osaka said she drew on past experience in a composed beating of Madison Brengle on Wednesday to move closer to a blockbuster Australian Open clash with top seed Ashleigh Barty.
The Japanese 13th seed and defending champion raced through the first set but had to work hard in the second on Rod Laver Arena before eliminating the 54th-ranked American 6-0, 6-4 in 65 minutes to make the third round.
“I remember when I was younger, I would watch her play in the pro circuit, and she was kind of notorious for getting every ball back,” she said of Brengle.
“So I just kind of took those memories from back then and tried to tell myself, you’re probably going to make a lot of unforced errors this match, but it’s something you have to do because you can’t let her dictate you in this match in the way that she would try to, like, keep the ball in play.
“For me, I feel like it was really important that even though I made a lot of errors at the net today, I thought it was really important to keep stepping in.”
Osaka will meet another unseeded American next after Amanda Anisimova upset Tokyo Olympic champion and 22nd seed Belinda Bencic 6-2, 7-5.
