The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Naomi Osaka
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Naomi Osaka had the umpire warning her for spiking her racket in the first set, and checking on her welfare when she tumbled near the baseline in the next.
The U. S. Open champion had a topsy-turvy third-round at the Australian Open on Saturday, getting within two games of elimination before finding her range against a tricky Hsieh Su-wei and winning 5-7,6-4,6-1.
In her courtside interview, Osaka apologized to the crowd for getting the umpire’s warning for smashing the racket, and told them to pretend it didn’t happen.
“Hopefully learn from that moment,” she said later. “I tend to keep a lot of things bottled up. I just felt like in that moment sort of releasing it was easier than just keeping it inside.”
It wasn’t until she was down a break in the second set that Osaka paused, smiled and figured out a way past the 33-year-old Hsieh, who plays with a double-handed grip on both sides and uses a mixture of spin and slice and drop shots.
Hsieh has taken some top 10 players out of majors before, reaching the fourth round last year here after beating Garbine Muguruzu and at Wimbledon, where she beat top-ranked Simona Halep.
