China Open: Osaka eases past Bronzetti to reach second round

Japan’s Naomi Osaka won against Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the China Open on Wednesday.

The four-time Grand Slam champion improves to 2-0 lifetime against Bronzetti, whom she also beat in the first round of the French Open this year.

Osaka, ranked No 73, will next play No 21 seed Yulia Putintseva at the National Tennis Center in Beijing. Putintseva holds a 3-2 edge over Osaka in their head-to-head but the Japanese player has won their last two matches, including one this year in the BJK Cup qualifiers.

This was Osaka’s first tournament since splitting with coach Wim Fissette. She has been seen with French coach Patrick Mouratoglou in the lead-up to this event and the Frenchman is rumoured to be her next coach.

The Japanese player won this event in her last appearance, way back in 2019, and this was her 20th win of the season. She is looking to win back-to-back matches on the tour for the first time since June.

Beijing WTA 1000, other first round matches (National Tennis Center, hard, USD 8,955,610):

• Taylor Townsend beat Martina Trevisan: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
• Yuliia Starodubtseva (Q) beat Laura Siegemund: 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Xinyu Wang beat Mai Hontama (LL): 6-1, 6-3
• Viktoriya Tomova beat Lesia Tsurenko: 6-3, 6-3
• Sofia Kenin beat Ana Bogdan: 7-5, 6-2
• Greet Minnen beat Erika Andreeva: 7-5, 6-2
• Yafan Wang vs. Ashlyn Krueger
• Anna Blinkova vs. Karolina Muchova
• Zarina Diyas vs. Mananchaya Sawangkaew
• Elena-Gabriela Ruse vs. Sijia Wei
• YeXin Ma vs. Irina-Camelia Begu
• Anna Bondar vs. Jaqueline Cristian
• Viktorija Golubic vs. Xiyu Wang
• Yufei Ren vs. Nadia Podoroska
• Harriet Dart vs. Clara Tauson
• Arina Rodionova vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
• Xinyu Gao vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo
• Kimberly Birrell vs. Kamilla Rakhimova
• Camila Osorio vs. Ajla Tomljanovic
• Meiling Wang vs. Jana Fett
• Moyuka Uchijima vs. Han Shi
• Xinxin Yao vs. Cristina Bucsa
• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Rebecca Sramkova
• Qiang Wang vs. Alycia Parks
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro vs. Peyton Stearns
• Elina Avanesyan vs. Emina Bektas
• Diane Parry vs. En-Shuo Liang
• Varvara Gracheva vs. Hailey Baptiste
• Shuai Zhang vs. McCartney Kessler
• Katie Volynets vs. Dalma Galfi
• Clara Burel vs. Tamara Korpatsch

You might also like this

Osaka and Mouratoglou work together in Beijing ahead of China Open

tennis majors

Osaka breaks with coach Fissette, seen practising with Mouratoglou

tennis majors

Osaka, Raducanu and Pegula headline Billie Jean King Cup Finals field

tennis majors

“My heart dies every time I lose” – Naomi Osaka’s emotional remark after second round loss in US Open

tennis majors