NEW YORK (AP) — Naomi Osaka spiked her racket after one errant forehand late in the second set at the U.S. Open, then flung it the length of the baseline after a missed backhand return ceded that tiebreaker.
Sometimes, that’s the sort of reaction it takes to right things for Osaka. And, perhaps surprisingly, she needed whatever push she could get in Friday’s third-round match.
Facing an opponent competing in just her second major tournament, two-time Grand Slam champion Osaka eventually figured out a way to turn a tight one into a runaway and beat 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 by claiming the final five games at Flushing Meadows.
“While I was playing, honestly, I was cursing myself out,” Osaka said during an on-court interview afterward, “so you wouldn’t want to know what I was saying.”
After taking things out on her racket, Osaka sat with a white towel draped over head during a changeover.
“It’s what I do in times of extreme anger and frustration,” she said.
Still, she improved to 7-0 since tennis resumed after a hiatus of more than five months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Another past U.S. Open champion moving into the fourth round Friday was 2016 titlist Angelique Kerber, who defeated 20-year-old American Ann Li 6-3, 6-4. Kerber’s next opponent is another American, 28th-seeded Jennifer Brady, a 6-3, 6-3 winner against Caroline Garcia.
In the previous round, Garcia upset top-seeded Karolina Pliskova.
Next up for Osaka will be big hitter Anett Kontaveit, an Estonian seeded 14th. She had a much easier time in a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 24 Magda Linette.
Men reaching the fourth round included No. 7 David Goffin, No. 20 Pablo Carreno Busta, Jordan Thompson and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic was scheduled to play at night against No. 28 Jan-Lennard Struff.
In an odd and unexplained delay, the third-round match between No. 5 seed Alexander Zverev and No. 32 Adrian Mannarino began more than 2 1/2 hours later than planned in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The U.S. Tennis Association described the holdup in vague terms, saying only there was “a collaborative dialogue with health officials” and that the players were “updated at all times.”
The USTA added in its statement that no other details would be provided because of what it called “the sensitivity of the medical issues involved.”
