Osaka progress in Rome after second round victory

Naomi Osaka was quick not to get ahead of herself in one of her best performances of her season after her first-career win against a Top 20 player on clay,

The former No.1 eased past Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday.

The win came a day after her straight-sets win over France’s Clara Burel. It is the first time Osaka has posted back-to-back victories on clay since 2019.

“I’m going into this match knowing that she has way more experience than me on clay,” Osaka said. “I feel like I’m still a baby giraffe, like I’m trying to learn my steps.

“I’m just extremely humble. I want to learn from the match I played today and hopefully apply that.”

Osaka finished the match with 19 winners to 12 unforced errors.

“I think this match is apparently a lot of firsts for me, so I’m very happy about that,” Osaka said. “I was pretty nervous coming back after the rain delay, just knowing that I really want to capitalize on that break point. Excited that I was able to do that.”

“Overall, if I had to give myself a rating, I’d say that I can see a lot of progress from my last match to now.”

She will face a familiar face in the third round in No.11 Daria Kasatkina. It will be the first meeting between the two since the 2018 Indian Wells final, which Osaka won 6-3, 6-2 to capture her first Hologic WTA Tour title.