In their final set on Kia Arena, Osaka’s level continued to climb higher as she cracked twice as many winners as unforced errors (16 to eight) in outpacing the former French Open runner-up.

Since returning to action a year ago, Osaka has shown signs of getting her game back together, including a memorable and narrow loss to then-No. 1 Iga Swiatek at the French Open. This, though ...

Next at the Australian Open for Osaka will be a matchup against 20th-seeded Karolina Muchova, who was the runner-up at the 2023 French Open but later missed about 10 months of action because of ...