“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

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.

Dominant from Naomi ?

?? @naomiosaka defeats Kerber in an hour and sets up a third-round clash with Muchova!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/Dglp568tlP
— wta (@WTA) March 24, 2022

“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.“

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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.