[Source: Reuters]

Naomi Osaka’s goal to improve her grasscourt game will have to wait for at least another 12 months after her Wimbledon comeback stalled in the second round following a 6-4 6-1 walloping by American Emma Navarro that mercifully lasted only 58 minutes.

When the four-times Grand Slam champion returned to the tour in January following a 15-month maternity break, top of her wish list was to “do much better on clay and grass”.

Unfortunately for the Japanese superstar, she failed to match even her career-best third-round showings at the French Open and now at Wimbledon.

“I didn’t feel fully confident in myself. Those doubts started trickling in a lot into my game. I don’t know why those thoughts were so prevalent,” wildcard Osaka, taking a long pause to collect her thoughts, told reporters.

“I’m a little disappointed because I wanted to do really well. I feel like I put a lot of time into it. There’s always next year, so…,”

Osaka put in a rousing performance at Roland Garros as she almost pushed world number one and eventual champion Iga Swiatek over the edge, squandering a match point before perishing in the second round.

A month later, however, her second-round performance under a closed Centre Court roof was as lousy as the British weather as her game fell apart against 19th seed Navarro after she produced four erratic errors to get broken in the seventh game of the first set.

Navarro, after sealing the first set with a crunching crosscourt winner, did not let her opponent’s status distract her from the job at hand and she kept up the relentless pressure in the second set as she raced into a 4-0 lead.

The popular Osaka, now ranked 113th and competing at Wimbledon this week for the first time since 2019, was given a roaring ovation from the crowd when she finally registered a game to avoid a second-set whitewash but that was only a brief reprieve and she bowed out by slapping a forehand long.

On the other hand, Emma Raducanu powered her way into the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday with a comfortable 6-1 6-2 victory against Belgian Elise Mertens.

Raducanu has struggled for fitness since her stunning U.S. Open triumph in 2021 but looked at the top of her game as she pummelled Mertens into submission from the baseline, shouting and fist-pumping almost every point won.

The British wildcard raced into a 5-0 lead against the 28-year-old under the closed roof of Court One which was packed with a passionate home crowd.

Mertens did get on the scoreboard to avoid a bagel, but that was the only positive for her as Raducanu clinched the first set.

The Briton then broke in the third game of the second set with a brilliant backhand across court and broke again to go 4-1 up.
Mertens, ranked 33 in the world, held to love in the next game but could not stop Raducanu bringing up two match points with an ace and then winning the first of them after the Belgian went long.

It’s the first time Raducanu has reached a third round of a Grand Slam since her title win at Flushing Meadows and raises tentative hopes of a first British women’s singles triumph at Wimbledon since Virginia Wade in 1977.

“I think I’m playing really good tennis. I’m really happy with the improvements I’ve made,” Raducanu said on court. “I knew all the hard yards and hard work I was doing this year would lead to something. I’m just so happy I’m able to reap some of the rewards here at Wimbledon.”

She will play ninth seed Maria Sakkari on Friday in the third round. Raducanu beat the Greek in the semi-finals en route to her U.S. Open win, when she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam in the Open era.

“(The) circumstances are different. Like, in a third round compared to a semi-final,” Raducanu told a press conference. “At the time the dynamics were also different. I was an unknown player pretty much.

“I’m expecting a really tough match. She’s… in the world… top 10 or something. It’s going to be a really difficult one.”