Naomi Osaka was cruising and then she was not but in the end, it was enough for a 6-0 6-4 victory in Melbourne.
Madison Brengle is not a world-beater in terms of tennis but the American will make your life miserable if you let her. Osaka nearly allowed that in the 2nd set as Brengle had numerous break points and even broke her but the Japanese player rallied in time. The first was no problem for Osaka who came out on fire caring very little about being merciful.
She blasted winner after winner as Brengle simply does not have the power nor skill to remain in rallies with Osaka when she is playing close to her best. The first set was pretty close to her best as she won 6-0 in just 20 minutes. In the 2nd set that confidence went away and winners were replaced by errors.
There was a lot of them and Osaka faced numerous break points. She was able to hold her serve for quite a while thanks to finding some big shots when she needed to but eventually Brengle was able to catch a lucky break and converted the 10th break point. Osaka was visibly annoyed by losing her serve and she came out angry for the rest of the match.
She blasted a couple of winners to get the scoreline levelled at 4-4 before taking a 5-4 lead with some stellar serving. In the end, she finished it off with another brilliant game to move on. A solid effort match from Osaka who still has consistency issues but she is getting there slowly.