Dominant Osaka cruises into Bad Homburg semis / Photo: Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV - AFP
Dominant Osaka cruises into Bad Homburg semis
Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka is through to the semi-finals of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany after a dominant win over Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday.
The Japanese sixth seed won 6-2, 6-2 in just 59 minutes to reach the final four of the grass court tournament just days out from the start of Wimbledon.
Osaka, the world number 15, was broken early in the opening set but swift struck back against the unseeded Russian.
Osaka won eight straight games -- a run which included 15 points in a row -- as she took the opening set and ran out to a 3-0 lead in the second.
The 19th-ranked Alexandrova rallied to win her next two service games but Osaka closed out the match in just under an hour.
Later on Thursday, fourth seed Karolina Muchova takes on Dane Clara Tauson while American Emma Navarro faces Romania's Elena-Gabriel Ruse in the remaining quarter-finals.
Chinese world number 52 Wang Xinyu is already through to the final four after Ukranian Elina Svitolina, ranked eighth in the world, pulled out citing exhaustion on Wednesday.
H.Papavasiliou--AN-GR
