Naomi Osaka is not stopping at the 2024 Italian Open in Rome as she added a pretty solid win over Daria Kasatkina in two sets.
The Japanese player admitted that she wants to work hard to become a good player on clay. She's never been a natural on the surface, but most of that came from not actually playing on it.
In her early years, she regularly skipped that part of the season, and experience matters a lot on this type of surface. Players need to get used to the intricacies of clay play, and she's certainly gotten used to it recently.
She won a match in Madrid and added more wins at the Italian Open. She bested Marta Kostyuk as well and added a third one against Daria Kasatkina.
This one was particularly impressive because Kasatkina is one of the finer clay players on the WTA Tour and she actually bested Osaka in a practice match in Madrid. According to the Japanese player, Kastkina actually 'smacked' her in that practice match.
Revenge came in this match, as Osaka played a strong match to win in two sets. The first set was well-contested. Kasatkina had some issues with her serve, allowing Osaka to really take advantage of that.
On her own serve, the former world no. 1 did pretty well, even though she got broken as well. Eventually, she did win the set 6-3 thanks to more aggressive and precise play.
The ball striking is firmly on Osaka's side, and that's where she won this match. She was just better in that department. The second set featured an early break for the Japanese player as well, and that was ideal for her.
Kasatkina broke back but then lost her serve once more, and she couldn't recover from that, as the Japanese player held for the win after that. The final score was 6-3, 6-3.
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