Naomi Osaka powered her way into the Miami Open quarter-finals with an impressive victory over Alison Riske.
Former world No.1 Osaka largely dominated from the baseline, hitting 40 winners, as she won 6-3 6-4.
Osaka will next face another American, Danielle Collins, as she bids to win the WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career.
“It’s really funny for me because last year I made the quarters too after I won the Australian Open and I wasn’t that grateful, I kind of expected to win,” said Osaka in her on-court interview.
“But I am in the same position this year and this is one of the funnest times of my life so I’m really grateful.”
Osaka, who had a walkover in her previous match after taking out 13th seed Angelique Kerber in the second round, started in strong fashion.
After saving four break points in the first game of the match, Osaka broke in the next game to move 2-0 ahead.
The four-time Grand Slam champion was hitting with authority and with much more power than Riske, who couldn’t get back into the set.
The American did break Osaka for the first time in the tournament at the start of the second set.
However, from 2-0 down Osaka reeled off four games in a row to reassert her control of the match.
Riske steadied herself and pushed until the finish but could not break back as Osaka sealed the win with her second match point.
Australian Open runner-up Collins booked her place in the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 win over eighth seed Ons Jabeur in just 66 minutes.
Wildcard Daria Saville saved a match point on her way to beating lucky loser Lucia Bronzetti 5-7 6-4 7-5 and making her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal since 2017.
The No.249-ranked Australian is the lowest-ranked player to ever reach the quarter-finals in Miami. She will play either Aliaksandra Sasnovich or Belinda Bencic next.
