Naomi Osaka downs Victoria Azarenka to set up Rome second round against Simona Halep

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  • Naomi Osaka recorded her first European clay victory of the season with an emphatic 6-0, 6-3 success over ex-world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka to set up a daunting second round against top seed and last year’s runner-up Simona Halep.

    Osaka, who claimed the first title of his career in Indian Wells last March, needed just 73 minutes to overcome Azarenka, who had defeated the Japanese easily in their only previous meeting, at the Australian Open in 2016.

    “My original goal, just playing it, was to do better than I did last time,” said Osaka on Monday.

    “And I wasn’t really thinking much after I won the first game. I just really tried to keep the momentum going. And I was really glad that I was able to finish it at that score line.

    “But, it didn’t really feel like it was as easy as I think people think it was. But, yeah, I’m just really glad I was able to play an opponent like her. Just to even have a chance I think is really great, and I think it was fun.”

  • Simona Halep interview: Romanian star on learning to be kind to herself and why her Grand Slam dream is not an obsession

  • Osaka lost in the first round in Madrid last week, to China’s Zhang Shuai, after taking nearly four weeks off. The 20-year-old had a tremendous March, defeating the likes of Serena Williams, Halep, Maria Sharapova and Karolina Pliskova on the hard-courts of Indian Wells and Miami.

    The world No. 21 admits she doesn’t feel quite comfortable on clay, especially trying to slide on it, but isn’t dwelling on her early exit in Madrid.

    “I feel like everything sort of happens for a reason. And I think the way this year is, I’m just trying not to take anything for granted. And I’m just trying to have fun every match and see how that goes,” said Osaka.

    She added: “Sometimes I stick my foot out to slide, and I just like fall.

    “And little things like that. There’s different clay courts, so one can be faster and one can be slower. So, I think just finding out how to figure out the difference between them.

    “But, yeah, I don’t really know how to explain it. But I’m not really that comfortable on clay yet. And I know there’s a lot of people that grew up on red clay, so just hopefully to be on the level of comfort as them.”

    Osaka and Halep have split their two meetings against one another so far this season (Halep won at the Australian Open, Osaka won in Indian Wells) but the Japanese youngster knows that her opponent is formidable on clay.

    “I had the chance to play her in the French Open one time. And she played really good. And I think that I played good, too, that day. And I practiced with her in Madrid, actually,” said Osaka.

    “I feel like she moves really amazing on clay. And just seeing how that’s gonna go ’cause it’s definitely not like Indian Wells, this surface. So, yeah, I just think it’ll be very interesting.”

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