Naomi Osaka and Yulia Putintseva faced each other in the 2nd round of the Nature Valley Classic for the 2nd time in their careers.
It was a really tough day for Osaka today as she struggled for consistency. She looked low on energy as Putintseva ousted her 6-2 6-3 in 1 hour and 8 minutes.
Osaka was so low on energy in her starting games that her coach Jermaine Jenkins sternly asked her:
“You got to get out of bed. Like you’re still asleep out here. You got to wake up, like, I need to see more energy; show me some passion; look invested. You know, like jump around. You got to get yourself going. You got to get your energy up.”
The Match
It took long for Osaka till she was able to show some fight back in the 7th game of the 1st set but that was too late as she had fallen much behind (5-2). The 43rd ranked Kazakh broke the Japanese again in the 8th game to win the set 6-2.
The second set had 5 break games out of 9. Yulia managed to get 3 breaks while the world no.1 Osaka managed to break 2 serves of her opponent. Putintseva won the second set 6-3.
Now as world no.2 Ashleigh Barty has advanced into the next round, Osaka’s world no.1 ranking is in jeopardy. If the world no. 2 wins the Birmingham title, she will become the no.1 ranked player in the world.
Straight sets win ✅
A place in the #NatureValleyClassic quarterfinals ✅@PutintsevaYulia moves past Osaka, 6-2, 6-3. pic.twitter.com/R8J3ZoYIj2— wta (@WTA) June 20, 2019
After the match Putintseva commented about her game:
“I think my baseline game was very consistent today, which was very fortunate for me, I’m happy with my level and how I played today.”
About Osaka, she said:
“She always plays great. We played last year before she won so many titles, but you could still feel her level and how she plays with her shots, which are so heavy. The serve is very strong. From the last time we played, I remembered I had to be very focused on my game and strong from the baseline, run and get everything back.”
BEAT THE WORLD NO.1
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