Quickfire Osaka steps up her winning pace

Naomi Osaka stormed into the quarter-finals of the WTA event in Montreal, with the four-time Grand Slam winner clocking the second-quickest win of her career.

The Japanese player wasted no time in putting together a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Anastasija Sevastova which took just 49 minutes. Her fastest was 42 minutes in 2016 in Brazil.

Osaka has booked the last eight of a major event for the first time in more than a year and a half as she fights back to form after a childbirth pause and an extended tennis break

The result duplicates her Canadian quarter-final form 2019; she will aim for a first semi-final at the 1000 level since Miami three years ago.

“I had a solid plan coming in here, and it happened to work out very well,” Osaka said.

Osaka ran her record against the Latvian to three consecutive wins, but played six years ago; she broke five times and sent over 13 winners against the No. 386.

“I’m definitely really happy, today was obviously faster than I thought it would
be, but I’m really happy with how the game plan went, and I’m excited to play my next match,” Osaka said.

“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

“Being in the quarter-finals is a step towards hopefully getting to the semis and the finals, so I’ll try to treat it more like that.”