“I still feel like I’m a pretty good player”- Naomi Osaka gives a befitting reply to Caroline Wozniacki with dominant win over Angelique Kerber
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Naomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki
Naomi Osaka has bounced back from her early exit at the Indian Wells and made a positive start at the Miami Open. The Japanese star notched up consecutive straight-set wins in her first two rounds. After a relatively easy clash against Astra Sharma in her opener, Osaka put on a dominant display against 3-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber to breeze past the German 6-2, 6-3.
Following her win, Osaka said she was motivated to play even better after former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki wrote her off in the clash against Kerber. Wozniacki, who is now a host at Tennis Channel, predicted Kerber and Leylah Fernadez will win their respective matches to set up a thrilling clash in the third round. But both of them turned out to be wrong as Fernandez was knocked out by Karolina Muchova to set up a clash with Osaka.
“I was watching Tennis Channel the other day, right? I don’t know like what night or whatever, but they had the draw-up. I was like, Oh, no. I accidentally saw the draw. This is before I played Astra. So I was like, Dang, I have to play Kerber if I win this next round.“
But then I think Caroline Wozniacki was commentating, and they were like, Oh, who do you think is going to make it out of this section? She’s, like, I think Kerber and Fernandez are going to play each other. I was, like, Oh, me and Muchova aren’t right here. So I was kind of thinking about it in my head a lot during when I was playing just now,” Osaka said.
‘I don’t really say I had like a vendetta‘: Naomi Osaka on Caroline Wozniacki
Osaka however added it wasn’t a ‘vendetta’ in response to the Wozniacki ‘spredictions, but she wanted to give a befitting reply after the Dane wrote her off and she wanted to prove she is still a good player.
“Yeah, I don’t know if that was the reason the score was why it was today, but I don’t know. I don’t really say I had like a vendetta, but I was like, Hmm, I know I was kind of underachieving these last couple of months, but I still feel like I’m a pretty good player. Because Wozniacki said it kind of confidently that Kerber was going to be going through. I don’t know. But anyways, yeah, that’s my story. Sorry.” Osaka concluded.
Osaka will now take on Karolina Muchova, who stunned US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez in the second round. The 4-time Major winner has scored her first back-to-back wins since the 2022 Australian Open and will be looking to make a deep run in Miami to boost her ranking after having plummeted to 77th place in the standings.
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T Rushitha
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