Naomi Osaka produced the best win since her comeback to the WTA Tour at the beginning of the year as Elina Svitolina was swept aside 6-2, 7-6 (5), while world number one Iga Swiatek was also victorious in the second round of the Miami Open on Saturday.
Playing in her sixth tournament since Osaka returned since giving birth to her daughter, the four-time Grand Slam champion looks to be finding her rhythm as world number 17 Svitolina’s craft had no answer for the power and precision of the Japanese’s ground strokes.
After a tight opening as the first five games were dominated on serve, Osaka stepped up a gear to win four consecutive games and close out the opening set in little over half an hour.
Svitolina had a window of opportunity at the start of the second set, but was denied by a brilliant mid-court volley from Osaka to stave off a break point and hold for 2-1.
Just as in the opening set, Osaka then put her foot on the accelerator as she broke to love to open up a 4-2 advantage but was broken for the first time when she had the chance to serve it out.
Instead the 26-year-old was forced to win it in a thrilling tie-break with tennis reminiscent of her four slam wins in three years between 2018 and 2021.
Osaka’s next opponent will be Carolina Garcia after the world number 27 saw off Viktoriya Tomova.
Swiatek’s hot streak continues as she made up for lost time by the inclement weather to race into round three on Saturday with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Italy’s Camila Giorgi
The Pole was one of a host of big names unable to take to the court on Friday as heavy rain washed out most of the day’s play.
A winner last week in Indian Wells, Swiatek is aiming for a fourth title in six tournaments this year and sped out of the blocks, winning the opening four games.
Giorgi finally got on the board but only temporarily halted Swiatek’s momentum as the four-time Grand Slam winner won eight of the next nine games to cruise through in little over an hour.
Next up Swiatek has another chance to exact revenge on Linda Noskova, who she suffered a shock defeat to in the third round of the Australian Open.
The two also met at Indian Wells, where Swiatek ran out a convincing 6-4, 6-0 victor.
World number five Jessica Pegula had to recover from a sluggish start to advance when China’s Zhu Lin retired due to illness while trailing 6-4, 4-1.
Zhu, the world number 63, got the early break to take a 3-1 lead but lost the next eight points to allow Pegula to break back.
The American then began to find her stride and broke again to take the opening set.
Pegula won five games in a row to open up a 3-0 lead in the second set and even though Zhu fought off two break points in the fourth game to get on the board, she had to throw in the towel just one game later.
Pegula next faces 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez and the American is making the most of home comforts of her home tournament in Miami.
“I get to go home I get to see my dogs every night, that’s really special!” Pegula said. “When we are we’re travelling so much throughout the year, It just makes everything a lot less stressful, a lot easier and I’m very grateful I get to be at home this week.”
Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen was undone by the experience of Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 7-5.