By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) – Four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka continued her impressive start to her Wimbledon campaign with a clinical 6-3 6-2 victory over Russian qualifier Anastasia Gasanova to reach the third round on a sunny Wednesday.
The Japanese 14th seed arrived on Court Two having swapped her first round “Kill Bill” kimono for a more toned down version of the dress with a decorative sash, a long train and a bomber jacket that caught the eye as much as her tennis.
Osaka has raised the fashion stakes at the majors this year, wearing a black Kevin Germanier skirt at the French Open before unveiling a layered yellow-brown and gold Nike match dress inspired by the glittering Eiffel Tower at night.
She turned heads with a jellyfish-inspired outfit during her walk-on at the Australian Open.
FASHION EXPERIMENTATION
“My inspiration when it comes to fashion? I don’t know. I feel like my inspiration can be anything,” Osaka said.
“I grew up in Florida for the most part when I was in my development years. Then I took a trip to Japan one day. Then obviously you go to Harajuku and you see everyone expressing themselves through clothes,” she said, referring to the Tokyo region known for its fashion culture.
“It was just so cool and colourful. That stuck out to me a lot. I kind of used that in my fashion experimentation. I don’t really ever have a plan when it comes to clothes. It’s okay to try something and fail, but I’d rather just try it and see how it goes.”
When the match began, there was nothing subdued about Osaka’s tennis as she cruised through the opening set and moved up a gear in the next with a powerful overhead smash to break for a 4-2 lead. She never looked back from there to reach the third round for the fourth time.
Osaka, who has not progressed beyond that stage at the All England Club, takes on Australian Daria Kasatkina in the next round though she said her immediate focus was on another matter.
“Tomorrow’s my daughter’s (third) birthday,” Osaka said. “I just wanted to be here for longer. I don’t want to make her get on a plane on her birthday. I was really happy about today.
“Obviously I have to practice in the morning, but maybe after we’ll go around the park and stuff. She loves making friends so yeah, we’ll probably do that.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar; Editing by Alison Williams)
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