'I tried to be very aggressive' - Osaka powers past Petkovic in Beijing

BEIJING, China - No.4 seed Naomi Osaka extended her winning streak to six with a 6-2, 6-0 defeat of qualifier Andrea Petkovic in just 59 minutes to move into the third round of the China Open.

The Japanese No.1, fresh off her first tournament victory on home soil a fortnight ago at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, blazed five aces and 21 winners to only 11 unforced errors for a belated revenge over Petkovic: their only previous meeting had ended Osaka's WTA main draw debut in the second round of Stanford in 2014.

"I just tried to be very aggressive," summed up the two-time Grand Slam winner afterwards. "I feel like she wants to be close to the baseline most of the time. Right off the bat I felt like I had to get her moving. I think I did that well."

Osaka, who split from former coach Jermaine Jenkins after the US Open, is now working with father Leonard François, an experience she describes as "nostalgic".

"It took me back a little bit because he's always been around, but he's been in the shadows for the most part," she explained. "I would say he is a person that knows my game the most. He's kind of the person that knows the trigger words, whether good or bad."

Over the course of a one-sided affair, the Australian Open champion would win a remarkable 91% of her first serve points, facing only one break point - saved, naturally, with an unreturnable serve. Off the ground, Osaka's backhand was particularly impressive, nailing effortless inside-out winners en route to capturing an immediate 3-0 lead and subsequently redirecting an astonishing down-the-line winner to reach set point for the first time.

By contrast, 2011 finalist Petkovic struggled to find any sort of rhythm on her groundstrokes in the face of Osaka's brutal power. The German came up with only six winners to 16 unforced errors, and was afflicted by a sprinkling of ill-timed double faults as well. Her first hoved into view down break point in the second game; a fourth came facing a second set point; and a fifth would concede the double break to fall behind 0-4 in the second set.

Having got the first set under her belt, Osaka's level rose to even greater heights in the second as she permitted Petkovic just seven points, and did not face even one game point. Three consecutive breathtaking winners to reach break point in Petkovic's first service game set the tone: for the remainder of the set, almost everything that Osaka's racquet touched would be blitzed past the World No.82 as she raced towards the finishing line.

Next up for the former World No.1 will be a third-round clash against either Wuhan finalist Alison Riske or Ajla Tomljanovic.