US Open champion Naomi Osaka extends her winning streak to 13 matches but only after riding out a stiff challenge from Katie Boulter to beat the Briton 3-6 6-3 6-1 and reach the quarter-finals of the Gippsland Trophy; Johanna Konta falls to Irina-Camelia Begu as Dan Evans opens with a win
Wednesday 3 February 2021 11:09, UK
Britain's Katie Boulter gave a great account of herself but could not stop Naomi Osaka from extending her winning streak to 13 matches at the Gippsland Trophy on Wednesday.
Boulter beat teenage American Coco Gauff in the second round of the Australian Open warm-up and another upset looked on the cards when she matched her Japanese opponent's power-hitting to take the opening set on Margaret Court Arena.
The second-seeded Osaka, who won the Australian Open in 2019, raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set but the 24-year-old Briton would not fold and had break points of her own.
But Osaka upped her return game considerably to wrestle back the momentum and level up the match before running away with the third set and sealing a 3-6 6-3 6-1 win.
Osaka will face Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu in the quarter-finals after she upset fifth seed Johanna Konta 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 7-6 (7-4), with the world No 79 pushing the Briton for three-and-a-half hours.
"After I lost the first set I thought I just want to fight as hard as I can," said Osaka, who is playing her first WTA tournament since securing her second Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in September.
"She was playing really amazing and I thought 'if I lose okay, but I have to give it my best shot'. I like to play long matches, and I played a short match yesterday so maybe I made myself play a long match today."
Top two seeds Ashleigh Barty and Sofia Kenin overcame steep challenges to reach the quarter-finals of the Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne and keep their Australian Open preparations on course.
World No 1 Barty showed no signs of fatigue from having played a late match on Tuesday and started in top gear against Marie Bouzkova at the Margaret Court Arena before winning 6-0 4-6 6-3.
"Coming off a night match, I had to get used to going to bed quite late again," Barty, who hit 42 winners to her opponent's 17, said.
"I'm an early riser, so I didn't get a hell of a lot of sleep last night, but it's fantastic to be back out here.
"It was a really solid match. I felt like I pressed a little bit in the middle and lost my execution, but I'm glad to have won and get another opportunity to play tomorrow."
The 2019 French Open champion will next face American Shelby Rogers, who ousted Croatia's Petra Martic 7-6 (7-1) 6-3.
Australian Open champion Kenin appeared to be heading for the exit door against fellow American Jessica Pegula when she fell 3-0 back after losing the first set but the feisty 22-year-old found her range and rallied for a 5-7 7-5 6-2 win.
French Open champion Iga Swiatek crashed out of the tournament with a 6-4 6-2 loss to Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova while Simona Halep had a more routine passage into the last eight with a 6-2 6-4 win over German Laura Siegemund.
Third seed Elina Svitolina also came from behind to see off Jelena Ostapenko 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-2 to set up a date with Belgian Elise Mertens.
Serena Williams sounded a warning for her fellow Australian Open contenders with a sleek 6-1 6-4 victory against Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.
Nick Kyrgios frowned and fumed at the chair umpire during his match with Harry Bourchier and needed assurance from a tournament supervisor that he would not be fined by the ATP before agreeing to play on.
The 25-year-old, playing his first tournament in nearly a year due to COVID-19 pandemic, walked off and refused to play after the chair umpire called a time violation when he was in his service motion late in the second set.
Kyrgios eventually went on to beat compatriot Bourchier 6-2 7-6 (9-7) and make the last 16 of the warm-up event.
"I just like playing by the rules," Kyrgios, who has been fined several times for his meltdowns and was handed a suspended 16-week ban by the ATP in 2019, said in his on-court interview.
"I didn't want to play until I made sure I wasn't going to get fined, because the ATP does me pretty rough all the time, they fine me too much money."
Dan Evans progressed to the third round of the Murray River Open with a straight-sets victory over Portugal's Pedro Sousa as the world No 33.
The eighth seed, who received a bye in the first round, dispatched the 108th-ranked player 6-3 7-5 at Melbourne Park, where he will next meet Marcos Giron after the Canadian defeated France's Adrian Mannarino 6-3 6-4.
Elsewhere in Melbourne, Heather Watson made an early exit at the Grampians Trophy as she lost 6-2 6-2 in her opening round match against the 36th-ranked Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
Watson only left hotel quarantine on Friday and said prior to the tournament she was "not putting a lot of pressure on myself" as she focuses on the Australian Open.
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