Incredible stuff in Indian Wells after Naomi Osaka (20) concedes just 3 games to the world no.1 Simona Halep.
The Japanese overwhelmed the Romanian after she won 9 consecutive games since the match was on a 3-all scoreline to finally win the contest in just 63 minutes. The final score was 6-3 6-0.
I tried to be consistent. OSAKA
Naomi lost to Simona in the Australian Open 4th round 6-3 6-2, and that gave the right experience to the Japanese to apply the right tactic in Indian Wells. Osaka commented
“I just really tried to be consistent. I think in Australia I just made way too many mistakes, and I sort of handed her the match, so I just tried to be a little bit annoying and return a lot.
I didn’t want to look too much on the other side of the court, because I felt then I would lose my focus.
I was a little bit surprised, especially the start of the second set, because I feel like she gave me…free points, but I didn’t try to think too much about it.”
I didn’t feel the ball. HALEP
Simona commented
“I didn’t feel the ball at all. I couldn’t concentrate. I was out of the game today. Osaka is a strong player, and she’s playing really well. I played in Melbourne against her, so I knew that she could make a good match. She was better. She was more prepared. She was ready to play and ready to win the match. I was not.
The big positive is that I played semis after so many weeks off, after a tough injury, so I’m not going to destroy this tournament just for this match.”
The final vs. Kasatkina
Naomi will face another 20-year-old in the final after Darya Kasatkina won an almost 3 hours match against Venus Williams. Darya and Naomi have never played each other at WTA level.
| MONSTROUS PERFORMANCE |
| Embed from Getty Images |
