Samantha Stosur may not be in New York, but her ex-coach is and already the Australian is once again making a big impact on the US Open women’s draw.
Six years after guiding Stosur to the title, David Taylor’s latest charge, 19-year-year-old Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka, sent defending champion Angelique Kerber crashing out of the season’s final grand slam.
Osaka credited Taylor with making her believe after her 6-3 6-1 centre-court rout.
“He talks to me a lot about positivity because I tend to be really negative on myself and to the point where I don’t really know what I’m doing anymore,” Osaka said.
“So since Toronto, I would say, I have been being really solid about that.
“And also, he’s helped me with my serve and my forehand and a lot of other stuff.
“If I were to say everything he helped me with, it would take a lot of time.”
Stosur apart, Taylor has worked with former world No.1s Martina Hingis and Ana Ivanovic and helped transform Alicia Molik into a grand slam quarter-finalist and world No.8. Saying he’s taught her tactical awareness, Taylor believes “the sky’s the limit” for Osaka.
“It might take a two or three years, ’til she’s 22 or so, but she’s got the game,” he told AAP.
“She can hold serve and she can break serve.”
Using the same deadly weapons as Stosur, Ivanovic and Molik, Osaka crunched 14 forehand winners, broke Kerber four times and didn’t drop serve once in a 65-minute mismatch.
“I was really happy because I grew up watching the greatest players play on that court, so to win a match on it felt really special,” Osaka said.
With rain washing out most matches on day two, Osaka awaits the winner of the suspended encounter between Czech Denia Allertova and Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson.
Kerber is the first defending champion eliminated in round one in 12 years.
“It was not my day, completely not my day today,” the German said.
World No.1 Karolina Pliskova had no such troubles, easing her way into the second round with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Magda Linette.
The Czech will next face Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg or American qualifier Nicole Gibbs.
