Naomi Osaka booked her place in the last 16 of a WTA 1000 event for the third time this year after coming through a marquee encounter between former Grand Slam champions in the Omnium Banque Nationale third round, defeating No. 22 seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour and 12 minutes.
Montreal: Draws | Scores | Order of play
Osaka has frequently referred to Ostapenko as her “favorite player”, both because the Latvian was the standard-setter for their generation as the first 1997-born player to win a major, and for her considerable entertainment value. But she hasn’t let this respect get in the way of taking care of business when it comes to their on-court matchup: Osaka has now won all three of their meetings in straight sets.
The former World No. 1, who is playing her first tournament with new coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, will face either No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula or another Latvian, former US Open semifinalist Anastasija Sevastova.
More to come…