WTA Miami: Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka storm into the quarter-finals
Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka made it into the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami by clear two-set successes.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Mar 29, 2021, 10:43 pm
Naomi Osaka is currently unstoppable: In the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami, the Japanese gave her opponent Elise Mertens, who was ranked 16th, hardly a chance and clearly prevailed 6: 3 and 6: 3. The 23-year-old already has 23 victories in a row and still has the chance to climb to the top of the WTA rankings after the event in Florida.
To do this, Osaka, who will meet Maria Sakkari or Jessica Pegual in the quarter-finals, needs, in addition to winning the tournament in Miami, an early retirement of the current world number one Ashleigh Barty. Should the Australian reach the final, she would definitely keep the top position. It doesn't look too bad for the 24-year-old at the moment, after a victory over Victoria Azarenka she is also in the last eight .
In this, Barty with Aryna Sabalenka is waiting for the highest hurdle so far. The world number eight did not give Marketa Vondrousova a chance at all in her round of 16 match and after just over an hour of play she was the clear winner: 6: 1 and 6: 2 it was in the end from the point of view of the 22-year-olds.