The left-hander and her glass ceiling!

Osaka beat Lys 6-4 4-6 6-3 in three hard-fought sets, hitting seven double faults and facing nine break points over the course of the match. The serve was shaky but the return was devastating, with eight breaks converted out of thirteen chances, and 51% won on the opponent’s first serve. The Japanese player is playing in Rome the same way she’s been playing since her comeback: in spurts, with a fragile serve and a world-class return. The match against Lys lasted 177 points, she won 95 of them. It’s not clean domination; it’s a victory wrestled away through the quality of her play in the key moments.

Shnaider came back to beat Gibson 5-7 6-1 6-1 after losing the first set, converting seven breaks out of fourteen chances, and winning 72% of first-serve points in the last two sets after a poor opening set. The left-handed Russian coached by Bajin constructs her points from outside the court, with a deep sliced backhand and a cross-court forehand on the move, a style that forces the opponent to run side to side. But Gibson is not Osaka, and the Japanese player has a particular read on left-handers, with four wins and zero losses in that category in her recent career.