Naomi Osaka meets Andreescu in China Open quarter-final
Osaka meets Andreescu in China Open quarter-final
Beijing, Oct. 3: Two of the most exciting talents in tennis will meet for the first time on Friday when Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu clash in the China Open quarterfinals.
On the eve of what could be the start of a long rivalry, the 21-year-old Osaka called the 19-year-old Canadian “an amazing player” and said “I have to learn from her”.
The Japanese, on the upswing after a slump following her triumph at the Australian Open at the start of the year, smiled: “I’m older than her, very much so.
“I noticed that she seems to be very... Just focused.”
Osaka, yet to drop a set in three matches in Beijing and fresh from winning the Pan Pacific Open in Japan, earned her place in the last eight in style.
The two-time Grand Slam champion said she was “angry relaxed” after a dominant 6-4, 6-0, win over unseeded American Alison Riske.
Osaka, the world number four, reeled off 10 games in a row to seal victory. “I’m relaxed, but I’m a little bit angry, it’s an angry relaxed.”
Andreescu, ranked sixth and playing her first tournament since stunning Serena Williams in the final at Flushing Meadows, thrashed American qualifier Jennifer Brady.
The teenager, who is on a roll of 16 wins on the trot, started with intent, breaking Brady’s first service game on the way to a brutal 6-1, 6-3 win in 68 minutes.
Also into the last eight in hot and hazy Beijing was reigning champion Caroline Wozniacki, a former world number one. She faces Russia’s Daria Kasatkina.
Also in action on Friday is current women’s number one Ashleigh Barty of Australia, who plays the seventh seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
In the men’s draw, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece came back to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 against Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia and will play bigserving John Isner in the quarter-finals.