World number two #NaomiOsaka finds herself in yet another dangerous situation as she faces the dangerous #YuliaPutintseva in the first round at #Wimbledon. Osaka, having not found her best tennis, is at risk of facing another early-exit at a Grand Slam despite a stellar start to the year which saw her rise to the world number one spot.
Osaka’s grass-court season
Osaka entered the grass-court season after enduring a rough Roland Garros campaign where she was handed a third-round exit by Katerina Siniakova. Being the top seed at the Nature Valley Classic, the Japanese was forced to dig deep in her opening-round match against Maria Sakkari. Overcoming a mid-match hiccup, Osaka blasted 28 winners to just 23 unforced errors as she steered towards a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win over the Greek in an hour and 59 minutes.
She was then upset by Putintseva in the second round, and ultimately lost the top spot to the newly-crowned world number one Ashleigh Barty.
Osaka reached the third round at Wimbledon here last year, falling to eventual champion Angelique Kerber in straight sets.
Putintseva’s grass-court season
Putintseva came into this year’s grass court season with a poor 6-14 win-loss record on grass in her entire career. Her best win on grass came over the 80th-ranked Magda Linette at Wimbledon last year, and was therefore not expected to clinch any big upsets on this surface especially with the surface not suiting her game.
Stunning Osaka along the way, Putintseva reached the quarterfinals in Birmingham, which was her first career grass quarterfinal appearance. A second-round result at Eastbourne soon followed, losing to eventual semifinalist Kiki Bertens in straight sets as well.
Putintseva has never gone past the second round at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, falling at that stage on three different occasions.
Match Analysis: Can Putintseva pull off the upset yet again?
Surprisingly, Putintseva leads Osaka 2-0 in their head-to-head series in one of the most extraordinary facts in tennis. In addition, the Japanese had never won more than three games in a set against the Kazakh, falling 3-6, 3-6 in Hobart last year while being beaten 2-6, 3-6 in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago.
It was a match to forget for Osaka, who produced 37 unforced errors in 68 minutes. Despite hitting 21 winners, her unforced errors proved too much for the solid Putintseva, who served up 11 winners to just nine unforced errors. That match also proved pivotal in the battle for the number one ranking, as Osaka lost the top spot to eventual champion Barty at the end of the week.
Putintseva will favour her chances in this match, considering how much she managed to frustrate Osaka in Birmingham. However, to Osaka’s credit, the match was completely on her racket as she just could not hit a proper shot into the court in that match. Putintseva’s defensive-minded game has always been an issue for the hard-hitting players and her ability to retrieve most balls is mindblowing.
Osaka will need to exhibit patience in her game to increase her chances of triumphing. The Japanese has to play with some controlled aggression and minimize her number of unforced errors and pull the trigger at the right timing. Otherwise, it would, unfortunately, end up as an error fest.
Having tasted defeat a fortnight ago, I do not think Osaka will allow herself to be beaten in the same fashion once again. As a result, she should be able to learn from her previous mistakes and overturn the result in this match.
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