Naomi Osaka has made a significant leap in the rankings as she continued her resurgent form in Montreal with her demolition of Anastasija Sevastova.
The four-time major champion steamrolled 386th-ranked Sevastova in just 49 minutes in the last 16 of the Canadian Open.
After Sevastova held serve in the second game, Osaka won 11 straight games to storm into the quarter-finals.
The Japanese star began working with Iga Swiatek’s former coach Tomasz Wiktorowski ahead of Montreal, having recently split with Patrick Mouratoglou.
Brad Gilbert, a former coach of Andre Agassi, Coco Gauff and Andy Roddick, gave his verdict on Osaka’s impressive form.
In a post on Twitter, the former world No 4 wrote: “Interesting best Double Osaka has looked for a while with Iga Pop (Iga Swiatek) old coach.
In her press conference, Osaka was asked how she measures success at this stage of her career.
“It’s weird. I talked to my dad, and he said, like, Just being healthy and happy is a form of success,” said the 27-year-old.
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“But yeah, I mean, definitely, of course I would want to win Slams, of course I would want to be in the top 10, but I think I need to pace myself and go for the mini goals, and they’ll eventually turn into the big goals.
“Yeah, I think being in the quarter-finals here is a step to hopefully getting to the semis and the finals, so I’ll try to treat it more like that.”
Osaka — who is a former world No 1 — started the Canadian Open ranked 49th, and she has jumped 15 places to 34th in the live rankings with the 215 points she has gained. This has put her firmly in contention to be seeded at the US Open.
The Japanese star will face world No 13 Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals in Montreal, and victory would take her to 29th in the live rankings.
Svitolina, who saw off Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-1 in the fourth round, looked ahead to her showdown with Osaka.
“[Osaka is] another big striker. It was a good practice for me today to play against Amanda. For now it’s all about recovery, resting my mind and body, and being ready for a big battle,” said the Ukrainian.
“It was a great performance from me tonight. I’m happy I could play well and move well because Amanda is such a big striker. I had to be physically strong. Very happy I could do it well today.”
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AloJapan.com