Naomi Osaka sinks Wang Xinyu to reach first grass court final ahead of Wimbledon

LONDON: Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka is into the first grass court final of her career after blasting past China’s Wang Xinyu at Bad Homburg, Germany on Friday.

The Japanese sixth seed Osaka won 6-3, 6-3 in sweltering conditions at the key Wimbledon preparation tournament, with the mercury topping out at 37 degrees Celsius. Osaka blasted six aces and broke her opponent once to take the first set comfortably.

Early in the second, Xinyu answered an Osaka break with a break of her own but the Japanese player quickly wrestled back control of the match. Osaka broke Xinyu again and took the match in one hour and 10 minutes to continue her strong grass court form just days out from Wimbledon, where she has been handed the 14th seed.

Osaka won two titles apiece on the hard courts of the Australian and US Opens, but has struggled on grass, never making it past the third round at Wimbledon. Agencies

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