Osaka survives scare to advance at US Open

NEW YORK (AP):

Naomi Osaka spiked her racket after one errant forehand late in the second set at the US Open then flung it the length of the baseline after a missed backhand return ceded that tiebreaker.

Sometimes, that’s the sort of reaction it takes to right things for Osaka. And, perhaps surprisingly, she needed whatever push she could get in this third-round match.

Facing an opponent competing in just her second major tournament, two-time Grand Slam champion Osaka eventually figured out a way to turn a tight one into a runaway and beat 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 by claiming the final five games yesterday at Flushing Meadows.

‘’While I was playing, honestly, I was cursing myself out,’’ Osaka said during an on-court interview afterwards, ‘’so you wouldn’t want to know what I was saying.’’

Still, she improved to 7-0 since tennis resumed after a hiatus of more than five months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

MOVING TO THE FOURTH ROUND

Another past US Open champion moving into the fourth round yesterday was 2016 winner Angelique Kerber, who defeated 20-year-old American Ann Li 6-3, 6-4. Kerber’s next opponent is another American, 28th-seeded Jennifer Brady, a 6-3, 6-3 winner against Caroline Garcia.

With shadows creeping across the Arthur Ashe Stadium court in the early afternoon, the 137th-ranked Kostyuk certainly had her chances to pull off a significant surprise, too.

The key moment: Kostyuk held five break points that could have given her a 3-1 lead in the final set.

But Osaka fended off every one and held to 2-all, beginning her match-closing run.

Kostyuk had her own issues: She twice took a medical timeout to have a trainer tape her right ankle.

But she also was able to control the outcomes of points for stretches, winning 19 of the 23 points when she went to the net. The Ukrainian teen also delivered more winners than Osaka, 36-30, over the match’s 2-1/2 hours.

Before and after the match, Osaka wore a mask bearing the name of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was fatally shot after being pursued by armed white men in Georgia.

Each time on court during the tournament, Osaka is wearing a different mask in memory of a victim of racial injustice.

‘’None of these deaths had to happen,’’ Osaka said. ‘’For me, I just want everyone to know the names more.”