Controlled aggression carries Osaka through another step at the US Open

NEW YORK -- There have been times this year when Naomi Osaka expressed frustration at her lack of progress after returning to tennis as a mother. But as the North American summer hard-court season sweeps to a conclusion, it’s clear she again has that championship gleam in her eye.

Thursday’s 6-3, 6-1 win over Hailey Baptiste was a study in controlled aggression. Despite the swirling wind, the four-time Grand Slam champion was a composed, serene presence in Louis Armstrong Stadium. Osaka, who needed only 70 minutes to win, busted out the big strokes only when necessary.

On Saturday, the No. 23-seeded Osaka will play the winner of the later match between No. 15 Daria Kasatkina and Kamilla Rakhimova.

It’s probably not a coincidence that since coach Tomasz Wiktorowski joined her team in Montreal, Osaka has won eight of nine matches.

Asked on court what he’s bringing to her game, Osaka dodged the question.

“I can’t give up my secrets,” she said, laughing. “But he definitely makes me see tennis in a different way -- and you can see it in the way I’m playing recently.”

Osaka’s signature strokes -- a powerful serve and a forehand to go with it -- still get most of the attention. She had seven aces (and no double faults) in her first-round victory over Greet Minnen.

But it’s her new-and-improved return game that suggests she might soon return to Top 10 form. It’s been a point of emphasis for Wiktorowski.

“I feel like with Tomasz we’ve been working a lot on my returns,” Osaka told reporters, “and I feel more confident. So I think that’s a really big point for me, because I feel like I was able to focus and kind of break back immediately when I needed to.”

Her return position appears to be slightly deeper -- she was about five feet off the baseline against Baptiste -- and “it’s made me a lot more comfortable returning.”

In her two matches, Osaka is 11-for-14 in break-point conversions.

In perhaps the most telling statistic in tennis, she has won an extraordinary 41 of 54 (.759) second-serve return points.

Osaka, who turned heads with her red-sparkle ensemble in the opening round, came out for her second match awash in purple from head to toe. After playing the first several games with her hair down, she quickly fashioned it into a bun -- and her game picked up noticeably.

The No. 47-ranked Baptiste and Osaka had played two previous matches, earlier this year on hard courts in Auckland and Miami, and both went the three-set distance before Osaka prevailed. This time, Osaka asserted herself early and often, with service breaks in the second and sixth games.

The second set was much the same, with breaks coming from Osaka in the first, fifth and seventh games. Baptiste reached the second round at the US Open for the first time, following best-ever results at Roland Garros (fourth round) and Wimbledon (third round).

Osaka, who won US Open titles in 2018 and 2020, is now 20-5 in second-round matches at the Grand Slams and 7-1 in New York.