For the first time at a grand slam, Naomi Osaka has her dad watching on from the players’ box during the Australian Open.
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Whether his court-side presence will help guide the world No. 4 to back-to-back titles in Melbourne remains to be seen, but it’s doing the trick so far as Osaka advanced to the third round on Wednesday, defeating China’s Saisai Zheng 6-2 6-4.
With the victory, the Japanese star set up an enticing encounter with 15-year-old Coco Gauff, who fought back from losing the first set to beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 4-6 6-3 7-5.
It will be a rematch of last year’s US Open when Osaka defeated Gauff in the third round before falling to Belinda Bencic in the last 16.
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