nationalbankopen.com<\/a>. \u201cI was trying to think of solutions the entire time.\u201d<\/p>\nShe found them in the nick of time in Montreal against a surging and familiar opponent, Liudmila Samsonova.<\/p>\n
Samsonova possesses one of the most potent serves in tennis, so circumstances favoured the recent Wimbledon quarter-finalist \u2013 and NBO finalist when the women\u2019s event was last held in Montreal in 2023 \u2013 as she stepped to the service line leading 6-4, 5-4, 40-15.<\/p>\n
But Osaka escaped courtesy of a Samsonova forehand that sailed long and a forehand winner after the latter\u2019s drop shot landed far too deep in the court.<\/p>\n
The job wasn\u2019t done, though, as Osaka then had to rally from 5-2 down in the second-set tiebreaker.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Osaka held off Samsonova in the final set to prevail 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3. Samsonova had won when the pair faced off on German grass in June, which proved to be the precursor to her best Grand Slam result at the All England Club.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t the first time Osaka saved match points in her career. Memorably, she fought off two against Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round at the 2021 Australian Open on the way to collecting her fourth Grand Slam.<\/p>\n
A lot happened since then. Osaka took a mental health break and in July 2023, gave birth to daughter Shai, who isn\u2019t with her in Montreal.<\/p>\n
Someone who is? New coach Tomasz Wiktorowski after Osaka parted company with Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams\u2019 longtime former coach.<\/p>\n
Wiktorowski formerly worked with Iga Swiatek and Grand Slam finalist Agnieszka Radwanska.<\/p>\n
If things go well, he\u2019ll be with Osaka in Cincinnati in August and at the US Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m kind of like a go with the flow type of person,\u201d said Osaka. \u201cI just wanted someone that knows the game a lot. And I just wanted to see how our personalities meshed. This is the first match that he\u2019s here, the first tournament, so I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osaka tallied 26 winners and made just 16 unforced errors in the match. Her power baseline game usually stands out when she thrives, but she defended, too, when needed, against Samsonova.<\/p>\n
She earned herself a match point when she scurried and hit a backhand passing shot that forced Samsonova to hit up on the volley. Osaka chased it down and deposited a forehand winner, to the delight of the 27-year-old and the fans at Centre Court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it\u2019s an added bonus to my game,\u201d said Osaka, now 3-0 on hard courts against Samsonova. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely really cool, and it makes my opponents think a lot because I do feel like they think maybe they should hit a winner because if they don\u2019t, I will.\u201d<\/p>\n
While in Montreal, Osaka hasn\u2019t had much time to check out the city. That might happen, though. But she was aware of Montreal\u2019s substantial Haitian population, the highest in Canada.<\/p>\n
Osaka\u2019s father, Leonard, hails from Haiti.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there\u2019s a big Haitian population here so I\u2019m really happy, and I hope that I\u2019m able to walk around in one of my off days,\u201d added Osaka, who next meets fellow big hitter and Major champion Jelena Ostapenko.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The heavens opened up minutes after Osaka\u2019s win, a contrast to the sunshine of the first three days. After a brief delay, Swiatek, fresh off her surprising Wimbledon crown (yes, she was surprised), beat Chinese qualifier Guo Hanyu 6-3, 6-1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Photo: Am\u00e9lie Caron\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some players admit that when down match points, their mind starts to drift thinking about their next stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-36015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}