WTA San Jose – Naomi Osaka survives Zheng Qinwen challenge to set up second round meeting with Coco Gauff

Naomi Osaka survived a hard-hitting encounter against Zheng Qinwen to set up a second-round meeting with Coco Gauff in San Jose.

Osaka, playing her first tournament since exiting in the first round at Roland Garros, had lost her last four matches at the Silicon Valley Classic but found her groove in a three-set encounter to advance from a tricky opening match in California.

After splitting the first two sets, Osaka powered away in the decider to take the match 6-4 3-6 6-1, with her serve and power game working well to turn the screw.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself in third sets,” Osaka said after securing victory.

“I’m not sure if it’s subconscious or not but I do remember thinking it’s going to be hard for her to break me.

“I think that’s one thing that I have above her is that I have a lot of experience. I’ve definitely played more matches than her, so it’s going to be interesting to watch her grow.”

She now faces a tough second-round encounter with Gauff, the sixth seed.

The French Open runner-up was in dominant form against Anhelina Kalinina, requiring less than an hour to beat the Ukrainian 6-1, 6-0.

“I don’t think I’ll play a match that perfect until years from now,” Gauff said of a commanding showing that saw her win nearly 90 percent of her points on first serve.

“It’s usually 1-2 matches in a season that you get that to happen.”

Elsewhere in San Jose, seventh seed Daria Kasatkina fought back from a set down to beat Elena Rybakina (1-6, 6-2, 6-0) and tee up a match against qualifier Taylor Townsend.

Maria Sakkari, the top seed, earned a bye to the second round and will face Shelby Rogers, who beat 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.

Madison Keys, Veronika Kudermetova, Caroline Dolehide and Elizabeth Mandlik also advanced to the last-16.