NAOMI OSAKA MAINTAINS NO. 1 BID IN MIAMI

Reigning US and Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka won a 23rd straight match at the Miami Open on Monday, keeping her shot at usurping Ashleigh Barty atop the WTA rankings alive. Top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina also advanced.

Naomi Osaka won a 23rd straight match at the Miami Open on Monday, holding off a mid-match surge from Elise Mertens to knock out the No. 16 seed, 6-3. 6-3 and reach her first quarterfinal at the WTA-1000 event.

Having won her last two matches against the 2018 Australian Open semifinalist, Osaka appeared undaunted by Mertens’ ball early on, racing ahead 5-1, only for the contest to tighten when it

came time to serve for the first set. Mertens scored her first break of the match and saved a whopping six set points over the next two games before Osaka closed it out on her seventh opportunity.

Reeling off the final four games, Osaka overpowered Mertens on match point, forcing a forehand into the net to secure her spot in the last eight. In all, she struck 25 winners to 28 unforced errors, converting five of 14 break point opportunities while winning 66% of her first serve points.

The former world No. 1 will next face either No. 29 seed Jessica Pegula or No. 23 seed Maria Sakkari; Osaka famously credited a 2018 Western & Southern Open loss to Sakkari with inspiring her to win her first major title at the US Open three weeks later.

“I feel like they are both really, really tough players. I have played Pegula once, and I feel like I have played Sakkari more than once. For me, I feel like I have been watching them play often on the TV, so whoever I’m going to play, it feels nice not playing someone that I don’t have any information on.”