Madrid, May 2: Karolina Muchova added yet another stunning win over a top player to her collection with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 upset of world No. 2 Naomi Osaka in the second round of the Madrid Open on Sunday.
The rising Czech captured her third win over a top-5 player this season, and her 10th top-5 win in her career overall, with her one-hour and 49-minute victory over reigning Australian Open champion Osaka.
Fresh off her top-20 debut in the WTA singles rankings on Monday, Muchova continued to impress in her Madrid tournament debut, as she plays only her second event since her breakthrough semi-final run at the Australian Open earlier this year, according to wtatennis.com.
Muchova struggled with an abdominal injury after her Melbourne exploits, which included a win over world No.1 Ashleigh Barty. But the Czech looked in fine form against Osaka, as she survived a second-set comeback by the No. 2 seed. Muchova had 29 winners, two more than Osaka, and converted half of her eight break points on the day.
Both players displayed powerful serving in the first set, but Osaka faltered early.
Muchova was untroubled the rest of the way, zipping home from there to notch her 10th match-win of the season and claim her spot in the Madrid round of 16. (IANS)
