By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday September 29, 2019
Naomi Osaka stretched her winning streak to five with a straight-sets win over Jessica Pegula at the China Open.
Photo Source: Getty
After taking the title on home soil in Osaka, Naomi Osaka has earned her first win at the China Open in Beijing to stretch her current winning streak to five.
The fourth seed punched past American Jessica Pegula in a match that both showed Osaka’s dominant form and a little bit of her inconsistency.
Osaka raced out to a 5-1 lead but failed to serve out the opener on her first try. She would produce a love hold to lock up the first set but the second set proved even more tricky for the two-time major champion.
Pegula served to force a third set but Osaka rallied to break as the pair eventually moved to a tiebreaker.
There Osaka squandered a 4-1 lead before rallying from 5-4 down to clinch the 6-3 7-6(5) victory.
She will face Andrea Petkovic next. The German took out Jil Teichman 7-6(4) 6-3 in first-round action on Sunday.
Osaka improves to 34-11 on the season. She was a semifinalist last year at Beijing.
Sixth-seeded Simona Halep also moved through on Sunday in Beijing. The Romanian clobbered qualifier Rebecca Peterson 6-1 6-1. Halep saved all five break points she face in the 71 minute contest. She’ll face Ekaterina Alexandrova or Bernarda Pera next.
Halep, who was forced to retire against Elena Rybakina in third-round action at Wuhan with back pain last week, says she is still dealing with the issue but feeling better.
France’s Kristina Mladenovic defeated Danielle Collins, 6-3 6-2, while American Christina McHale toppled wild card Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-0 1-6 6-3.
Yulia Putintseva blasted Anna Blinkova 6-0 6-1 and Wang Yafan defeated Wang Xinyu 6-1 6-2.
Three-time Beijing quarterfinalist Angelique Kerber was also a winner, 6-2 1-6 6-4 over China's Zhang Shuai.
Venus Williams edged Barbora Strycova 6-3 4-6 7-5 to improve to 5-0 against the Czech and set up a second-round clash with Belinda Bencic, while third-seeded Elina Svitolina battled back to knock off 2018 finalist Anastasija Sevastova 6-7(4) 6-1 6-2. .