Naomi Osaka has breezed into the Australian Open semi-finals with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 victory over Taiwanese veteran Hsieh Su-Wei.

Osaka acknowledged the match against the unseeded 35-year-old as being a potential banana skin. All four of the victories Osaka had chalked up from their previous five encounters went the distance, while Hsieh won the other in straight sets.

However, there were no problems for the 2019 Australian Open champion on Rod Laver Arena, as she wrapped up the win in 66 minutes.

“I’m really happy with how I played today,” Osaka said after the match.

“Every time I play [Hsieh], it is always such a battle. Even though the score was like this, it was really another battle for me.”

The three-time grand slam champion needed just 36 minutes to wrap up the first set, breaking Hsieh twice, before powering through the second in just half an hour.

Despite only getting 40 per cent of her first serves in during that first set, Osaka still hit three aces to nil, winning all her points off that first serve.

Hsieh Su-Wei was playing in her first major quarter-final, aged 35.(AP: Hamish Blair)

That percentage improved in the second set as Osaka powered four more aces to nil with a serve averaging close to 40kph faster than Hsieh’s.

Hsieh was no passenger in the match, earning three break points of her own in the first set, but was comfortably undone by Osaka’s superior power.

Hsieh continued to fight all the way to the final point, saving two match points at the death as Osaka looked to close out the match.

Osaka said the fact she was so close to going out against Garbiñe Muguruza in the last round had given her some calmness heading into the rest of the tournament.

“I wouldn’t say it’s easier but I would say it makes me a bit more calm. Even though my back was severely against the wall [against Muguruza], I still had opportunities,” Osaka said.

“Even today when I had two match points and she saved them both, normally I feel like I would have panicked but today I was pretty calm.”

Osaka will meet either Simona Halep or Serena Williams in the next round.

“I always watch Serena’s matches anyways — normally I never look at my draw but everyone’s told me about my draw here so I’ve kind of had no choice but to know who my next opponent is.

“But it’s definitely going to be really fun.”



Source link