By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, August 19, 2021
Wild card Jil Teichmann broke serve six times stunning Naomi Osaka 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to score her biggest career win and reach the Cincinnati quarterfinals.
Photo credit: Getty
Jil Teichmann pounded her palm over her heart exhorting herself to keep fighting.
A resilient Teichmann tore through five of the final six games shocking second-seeded Naomi Osaka 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to charge into the Cincinnati quarterfinals with her biggest career win.
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A pulsating performance left the Swiss feeling the shivers.
"Literally, I’m shaking right now," Teichmann told Andrew Krasny afterward. "I’m very, very happy with this win. I’ve had a very, very tough year. I started very well and I’ve had many many injuries, but I felt like a good level. So yeah, I’m just really, really happy it’s working out right now."
Exuding acrobatic defense, shrewdly shifting spins and heights of her shots and exhibiting raw desire, the 76th-ranked Swiss scored her third career Top 5 victory. Osaka couldn't quite fight the right balance between her explosive baseline aggression and point-to-point consistency in the final set falling to an opponent ranked outside of the Top 50 for the first time this season.
"I thought she played really well. I thought in the first set I was doing everything I was supposed to do, and then in the second set I feel like, and also in the third set I felt like I was a bit too defensive maybe," Osaka told the media afterward. "But I also thought that my performance in Tokyo was also lingering in my mind a bit, because I felt like I was overly aggressive there.
"I felt like I learned a lot from this match today, and I felt that, if anything to take away from this, I tried my best throughout the entire match, so I can sleep at night."
Prior to this week in Cincinnati, Teichmann had not won back-to-back matches since she beat Petra Kvitova, Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff in succession to reach the Dubai semifinals last March. Slowed by an ankle injury and left thigh issue in recent months, Teichmann grew stronger and played cleaner as the match progressed tonight.
Playing just her second WTA main-draw match since withdrawing from Roland Garros in June, Osaka struggled to control her powerful strikes down the stretch. Teichmann did a tremendous job extending rallies and Osaka was her own worst enemy at crunch time.
The four-time Grand Slam champion committed 41 unforced errors—12 more than Teichmann—and hit five of her seven double faults in the final set. The loss means Osaka will launch defense of her US Open title later this month with just four hard-court preparation matches, including two at the Tokyo Olympic Games last month.
"I definitely wouldn't go into a tournament thinking that I can't win it. I would say for me right now I'm not even thinking about winning [the US Open], though," Osaka said. "I'm thinking about going into the tournament and taking it one match at a time, and that's how I play really well.
"For me, I feel today I maybe wanted to win too much, and that brought out a lot of tension in me. Maybe that was the reason why I lost. But, yeah, going into New York just trying to take it one match at a time."
Serving to the Osaka forehand, Teichmann unsettled the Japanese power player with her angles, athleticism and versatile shotmaking.
"I know she’s a very tough opponent," Teichmann said. "She’s a Grand Slam champion; I’m the underdog. So it’s always a bit easier I got to say you’ve got to start somewhere.
"My plan was just to play my game. I move very good I change everything I can directions, heights, everything and I think she didn’t feel really comfortable about it. Yeah, I served very good."
Teichmann will play either Swiss compatriot and Olympic gold-medal champion Belinda Bencic for a spot in Saturday's semifinals. The 10th-seeded Bencic led Karolina Muchova 7-5, 2-1 when the Wimbledon quarterfinalist retired from their round-of-16 match.
"Belinda has been amazing, Olympics, as well as with Viktorija. I'm very close to both f them. I was actually calling them right after the matches," Teichmann said. "Yeah, I'm just like really, really happy for Swiss female tennis. We really need that. We are very good players, and we are showing it. It's perfect, actually. It has been perfect."
The Osaka forehand was the biggest groundstroke on the court and she hammered it into the corners breaking twice in a row bursting out to a 3-0 lead.
Teichmann leaned into her two-hander rapping a return winner down the line to break back and get on the board in the fourth game.
Relaxing, the left-hander lashed successive aces stamping her first hold with a clenched fist for 2-3.
Racing off the court to slice back a return, a scrambling Teichmann extended an exchange with several spirited gets earning break point in the eighth game. Undaunted, Osaka lifted her level unleashing heavy forehands into both corners erasing break points with a loud “come on!” The second seed hit her way out of trouble holding for 5-3.
Osaka charged through 11 straight points breaking to snatch the first set and plowing through a love hold to start the second.
The world No. 76 was timing Osaka’s heavy drives more effectively midway through the second set. Teichmann used her quickness around the court and her racquet skills on the stretch to extend rallies. On her fourth break point, the Swiss drew an errant forehand to score her second break for a 3-2 second-set lead.
A quick first step, anticipation and agility make Teichmann a smooth mover on court. Serving in the eighth game, the left-handed Swiss stuck a forehand off the back of the baseline. Then Teichmann recalled Agnieszka Radwanska dropping nearly to her knees in redirecting a backhand down the line holding for 5-3.
A wild swinging volley put Osaka in a triple set point hole. On the second set point, Osaka scattered a backhand wide as Teichmann forced a final set after one hour, 13 minutes.
Both women left the court for a break before the third set. Teichmann slapped a forehand down the line into the net then double faulted off the tape to open the decider dropping serve.
The four-time Grand Slam champion was her own worst enemy in the fourth game. Osaka slapped a bounce-smash into net, badly bungled a smash long then flailed a forehand to give back the break as Teichmann squared the set after four games.
Fending off a rocket return, Teichmann dabbed a drop shot holding for 3-2 and pounding her palm over her heart letting the former No. 1 know she was ready for the third-set fight.
Osaka scattered her fourth double fault surrendering serve for the fifth time.
The Swiss wild card sent a backhand long to face a second break point in the seventh game. Tension tightened Teichmann’s left arm as she double-faulted into the middle of the net giving the break back.
A jittery Osaka lost the range on serve slapping two double faults and sailing a forehand to give up serve and hand Teichmann a 5-3 lead.
Serving for the quarterfinals, Teichmann stabbed a stretch slice backhand back and caught a break when Osaka missed a forehand. Rolling a forehand winner down the line, Teichmann earned double match point. When Osaka's final return flew long, Teichmann raised her arms to the sky in triumph.
Osaka will get back to the practice court before launching her US Open title defense in 11 days suggesting this setback might be a blessing in disguise ahead of her effort to defend a major for the first time.
"Honestly, it didn't really surprise me as much," Osaka said of Teichmann's performance. "I remember watching her play against Coco in Australia. I was thinking, like, this girl is really talented. It really doesn't surprise me at all. And also, people play me at a really high level, so I'm always kind of ready for that.
"I would say for me, even though she played really well, I know that there is a lot of things I need to fix within my game, so in a weird way I'm kind of glad that I lost, because there are so many things that I want to fix before New York."