A battle of power hitters was first up in Arthur Ashe Stadium as Naomi Osaka faced Camila Giorgi. Despite the power level of both players, the consistency levels were heavily in favor of Osaka. That was exactly the case as the former US Open champion needed only 70 minutes to claim her place into the third round with a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Dominant Opener

Cruising along in her first service game, the Italian began to lose grip of what was going to be a level set after two service games. A run of unforced errors, including two double faults gave Osaka a look to break which she duly took with a backhand winner to move ahead 2-0. A quick consolidation padded to that lead, and she was eyeing another break after a volley winner gave her two more break chances. 

A double-fault that didn’t even reach the net widened the gap to 4-0 for Osaka as this set looked to be quite routine after a testing opening round. Only one game dropped for the four seed in that opening set.

Giorgi's unforced errors caused her lots of issues today (Photo: Matthew Stockman)
Giorgi's unforced errors caused her lots of issues today (Photo: Matthew Stockman)

Closing Out Comfortably

Like the opening set, Osaka took her chance swiftly to break and move ahead with Giorgi’s unforced errors racking up. Despite being behind the early break, the Italian kept herself within reach, holding in her second service game to keep the deficit at 1-2. 

The four seed saved her first break point against her serve. Giorgi continued to keep it tight until getting broken in the 7th game. Osaka would have liked to have no qualms while serving for the match, but from 40-15 up, she had to save a break point with an ace. Despite that, it was the former champion who went on to close it out in just 70 minutes.

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