Osaka battles past Sakkari to move into Birmingham last 16

Federer begins grasscourt season with win

BIRMINGHAM, England, June 18, (RTRS): World number one Naomi Osaka was tested by Maria Sakkari in her first-round match at the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham but eventually went through to the last-16 of the grasscourt tournament with a hard-fought 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win on Tuesday.

In her first match since her third-round exit at Roland Garros earlier this month, 21-year-old Osaka struggled with her first serve against the world number 33 and took two hours to dispatch her Greek opponent.

However, the Japanese, who lost to Sakkari prior to her US Open title run last year, did manage to fire seven aces and won five break points to clinch victory on a surface she had previously admitted was not her strongest.

Elsewhere, former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko stormed into the next round with a 6-0, 6-2 demolition of Iga Swiatek while Petra Martic saw off the challenge of Ekaterina Alexandrova with a 6-3, 7-5 win.

In Halle, Roger Federer began his preparations for next month’s Wimbledon Championships with a 7-6(1) 6-3 victory over unseeded Australian John Millman in the opening round of the Halle Open on Tuesday.

Competing in his first match since being beaten by eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinals, the Swiss proved too strong for Millman in the grasscourt tournament.

World number 57 Millman, who had beaten Federer in four sets in their previous encounter at last year’s US Open, put up a strong fight in the opening set but was no match for his opponent at the contest wore on.

Up next for the 20-times Grand Slam champion is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has won the last two matches of their 17 career meetings.

Earlier, world number 14 Borna Coric began his title defence with a 7-6(2) 6-3 victory over Spain’s Jaume Munar to move into the second round where he will face Joao Sousa.

David Goffin fired nine aces and won 86% of points on his first serve in a comfortable 6-1 6-1 win over Argentine Guido Pella in 50 minutes. Up next for the Belgian is Radu Albot.

Wildcard Tsonga defeated fellow Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-4 7-5 but not before the duo delighted the crowd with an impromptu game of foot tennis in the second set after Paire’s racket slipped from his hand following a serve.

Seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut overcame Taylor Fritz 7-6(10) 6-0 while local hope Jan-Lennard Struff got past Laslo Djere 6-4 6-4 to set up a meeting with Karen Khachanov.

The Halle Open is a warm-up tournament for Wimbledon which begins on July 1.

In Santa Ponsa, Spain, Maria Sharapova launched her comeback from a six-month injury layoff with a 7-6(8),

Marin Cilic of Croatia returns the ball to Cristian Garin of Chile during their singles match at the Queens Club tennis

tournament in London on June 17. (AP)