NEW YORK - Japan's Naomi Osaka reached the third round of the U.S. Open on Thursday for the second straight year, after the two-time winner beat Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Former world No. 1 Osaka was made to work against her 42nd-ranked opponent, but the 13th seed regained her rhythm in the third set to advance in New York, where she is looking to reclaim the title she won in 2018 and 2020.
"I kind of let it slip through my fingers (in the second set), so I was trying to tell myself in the third set keep going and keep trying to take the opportunities," the four-time Grand Slam champion said.
Osaka cruised in the first set when Siniakova had four double faults but 20 unforced errors from the Japanese in the second set helped Siniakova break three times from 4-2 down and take the match to the decider.
Osaka trimmed those errors to five in the third set, however, securing her progress in 2 hours, 2 minutes.
"Since I felt more fit and I'm able to get a lot more balls back, I have a bad habit of wanting to watch what the other person does," she said.
"Sometimes I wish I would commit more to hitting the balls because there are certain rallies I remember in my head from today that I could have probably pushed more, but I was waiting to see what she was doing."
