Japan’s Naomi Osaka has booked her spot in the third round at the Tokyo Olympics by overcoming 49th ranked Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic on Monday at the Ariake Tennis Park and outlasted her 6-3, 6-2 victory. Naomi was a host for her country this week at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics which finally began after a year delay due to the global rise of the coronavirus pandemic. She is now aiming to win a gold medal in the homeland.
“Well you know, definitely it would mean a lot for me to win gold here but I know it’s a process,” she said.
Osaka had withdrawn from the first round of the French Open in May and hasn’t appeared for any match since then. Her first arrival in public was at the Olympics where she lightened the cauldron as a feeling of responsibility to her nation.
“Honestly I didn’t feel pressured. For me, I felt more excitement, this was a sense of duty, like something I wanted to accomplish.” In the match, despite the swiss who managed to conserve her serve but couldn’t dominate as the 23-year-old Naomi did not let her put off the attack that ended the possibility in front of the world number second.
Osaka will be back in action against one of the winners among Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania or the Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova.