Osaka, Barty move toward Australian Open showdown

Canada’s Shapovalov wins gruelling five-set match against South Korean

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA For the first set, Naomi Osaka’s rediscovered love of the game meant it was anything but fun for Madison Brengle in the second round of the Australian Open.

The defending champion conceded only four points in the first four games Wednesday and rifled forehand winners seemingly at will as she breezed to 6-0 in a mere 20 minutes.

The second set started with Brengle celebrating a service hold like she’d finished a long-distance race, but gradually the No. 54-ranked American’s keep-the-ball-in-play strategy ground down Osaka to a stage where she finally converted a breakpoint opportunity — after missing her first nine chances.

That triggered a change in the former No. 1-ranked Osaka, who responded by breaking back immediately and reeling off the last nine points to complete a 6-0, 6-4 victory. She finished with 37 winners and 32 unforced errors.

Osaka will next face Amanda Anisimova, a 20-year-old American who beat Olympic gold-medallist Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 7-5. The winner of that is likely to face topranked Ash Barty in the fourth round.

Osaka won the Australian Open last year, her fourth Grand Slam title, but then withdrew from the French Open and skipped Wimbledon as she took a break for her mental health. She then was ousted early at the U.S. Open.

After a long off-season to reset, she’s unbeaten in five matches in Australia this year.

Asked how she rated her form, Osaka said that’s not how she’s approaching things.

“Honestly, I’m trying not to do that,” she said in an on-court TV interview. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist. If I compare myself with the past, I’ll never be satisfied. The goal for me is just to have fun ... (and) I think we’re accomplishing that.”

Since the draw for the first major of the year was made, a big focus has been on a potential encounter between Osaka and Barty, the 2021 Wimbledon and 2019 French Open champion who is aiming to be the first Australian woman since 1978 to win her home championship.

Barty was front and centre when the tournament celebrated its inaugural First Nations Day, albeit only for 52 minutes as she beat 142nd-ranked qualifier Lucia Bronzetti, 6-1, 6-1. “It was nice for me to be a part of it in a way that I feel most comfortable,” Barty, who has Indigenous heritage, said of the day dedicated to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. “Out on the tennis court is how I express myself as an athlete. It’s how I’m able to express myself as a person, as well.”

Rafael Nadal didn’t get it all his own way in the subsequent match on Rod Laver Arena, needing five match points before beating 126thranked German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

The sixth-seeded Nadal, aiming for a men’s record 21st Grand Slam singles title, had two match points on Hanfmann’s serve and two more on his own before finally clinching a spot in the third round when his rival sent a forehand long.

Nadal, 35, shares the men’s record of 20 singles titles with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, and he doesn’t have either of them in the draw this time.

Federer is skipping the Australian Open while he continues his recovery from injury. Djokovic, a ninetime champion at Melbourne Park, was deported after an 11-day saga he ultimately lost because he didn’t meet Australia’s strict COVID-19 vaccination regulations.

Miomir Kecmanovic, who was originally drawn to meet Djokovic in the first round, advanced to the third with a 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (8) win over Tommy Paul.

Olympic gold-medallist Alexander Zverev, Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, No. 17 Gael Monfils and No. 23 Reilly Opelka advanced in straight sets.

In two marathon five-setters, No. 14 Denis Shapovalov held off South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-2, in four hours and 25 minutes on Margaret Court Arena, and Sebastian Korda edged Corentin Moutet, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (6), in 4:47.

In the women’s draw, French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova set up a third-round match against No. 26 Jelena Ostapenko, advancing along with No. 5 Maria Sakkari, No. 8 Paula Badosa and No. 15 Elina Svitolina, who next plays two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.

Svitolina was leading 6-3, 5-7, 5-1 when Harmony Tan retired with a left leg injury.

I’m a bit of a perfectionist. If I compare myself with the past, I’ll never be satisfied. The goal for me is just to have fun ... (and) I think we’re accomplishing that.

NAOMI OSAKA WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYER