Osaka to keep up mask protest

NAOMI OSAKA vowed to continue highlighting issues of racial injustice after reaching the second round of the US Open with a hard-fought win over Japanese compatriot Misaki Doi. Osaka, who initially pulled out of her semi-final at last week’s Western & Southern Open in solidarity with protesters, wore a face-mask onto the court bearing the name of Breonna Taylor, who was shot dead by police in Louisville in March. The 22-year-old Osaka (right) said after her 6-2 5-7 6-2 win that she planned to wear a mask bearing the name of a different shooting victim for each round that she remains in this year’s tournament. Osaka told Amazon Prime: ‘Actually I have seven (masks), and it’s quite sad that seven masks isn’t enough for the amount of names. ‘So hopefully I will get to the finals and you can see all of them.’ Nor was it entirely plain sailing for No1 seed Karolina Pliskova who dropped serve in her first game but recovered to dispatch Anhelina Kalinina. Two former Wimbledon champions, Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova, also reached the second round with little fuss. Kerber, the 2018 winner at SW19, beat Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, the German 17th seed prevailing 6-4 6-4. Two-time Wimbledon champ Kvitova came through against Irina-Camelia Begu, the sixth seed winning 6-3 6-2. But there will be no repeat of last year’s run to the third round for 16-year-old Coco Gauff. The American went down 6-3 5-7 6-4 to Latvian 31st seed Anastasija Sevastova.