"Today was serve-reliant" says Osaka after besting Gauff

Osaka was able to come back and defeat Gauff in a match where she did not play her best. Gauff was the better player early thanks to a very good forehand however after it disappeared in the 2nd and 3rd set her chances of winning diminished. Osaka was superb on serve rarely dropping a point after hitting her first serve.

She admitted as much after the match:

"Whenever I play [Gauff], it's definitely always very tough. I felt like today the match was very serve-reliant, so I'm very happy that my first serve didn't let me down."

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Osaka never showed nerve in the match despite not being as strong from the baseline as she can be. She stayed calm and after Gauff collapsed in the 2nd seized her chance and ran away with the match. She said:

"I would have been really happy if I was able to turn things around in the first set, but I'm glad that I was able to do it in the second set. I was more just examining her and trying to stay calm. I felt like the last time I played her in Australia, I was definitely not calm at all. Just trying to keep a level head and figure out like what I could do better during the match."

She faces Jill Teichmann in the next round. It will be the first meeting between the two.

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