Naomi Osaka's inspired run at the 2024 Italian Open was snapped by Qinwen Zheng, who continues to impress.
Quite a few fans might be unaware that Zheng is having another spectacular season, once again showing off her consistency. She's already ranked in the Top 10 on the WTA Tour and looks primed for even more success this year.
The run in Rome has been pretty good, but now, with this win over Osaka, the rest of the field will certainly be on alert. Osaka herself has had a tremendous week in Rome, winning a couple of very good matches.
Her play has been so good that fans on X started to call her 'Clayomi', which she kindly laughed off upon hearing it. She certainly wasn't Clayomi in this match because Zheng really had no issues winning this match comfortably in two sets.
The way Osaka plays is very risky, so there is a fine line between a bad performance and a superb one. Sometimes, it's just a few inches of difference. Today was just one of those days when she wasn't as sharp as her opponent.
She also struggled with her serve, which was problematic as it opened her up to the Chinese player, who doesn't mind playing offensive tennis. Zheng struggled with her serve as well but was able to keep afloat.
She got broken once in the opening set but responded by breaking Osaka three times to win the set 6-2. In the second set, Osaka didn't create a single break chance and that was the problem.
Zheng was just too strong on her serve, did well enough on return and that was enough. The final score was 6-2, 6-4, which is a great win for Zheng. As for Osaka, well she can take some lessons from this week.
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