Miami Open: Osaka through to last 16, bounces back in decider against Baptiste

Japanese Naomi Osaka edged out American wildcard Hailey Baptiste 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 to move into the last 16 of the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday – in a match that lasted almost three hours. Osaka came back from 4-2, and then 4-3 30-15 down in the decider to secure her place in the Miami last 16 for the first time since 2022.

“I think the match was really tough”, Osaka said after the match. “I’ve played her once before. Honestly it was really frustrating but also really fun at the same time. I think for me, I haven’t been able to play super long matches, so it was really nice to get the experience today.”

Osaka : “Maybe I should step up”

“I think when I played against Samsonova, it worked really well to just be patient and wait on the baseline and go for the shot when I had it. Today I tried that, as well, but it was a little bit more difficult because she does hit more slices and she does come into the net. I was also thinking in the third set maybe I should step up and be a little bit more aggressive, which I think I did, but maybe not to the degree that I could have. It turned out okay in the end.”

Osaka, ranked No 61, will play Italian Jasmine Paolini, the No 6 seed, next.

The Japanese defeated Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva (3-6, 6-4, 6-3) and Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 24 seed (6-2, 6-4) ahead of her victory. In the previous rounds of the Miami tournament, Baptiste, ranked No 98, won against Serb Olga Danilovic (6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1) and edged out Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 12 seed (3-6, 6-4, 7-5).

Miami WTA 1000, other third-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Amanda Anisimova vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Emma Raducanu vs. McCartney Kessler
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Jessica Pegula

• Madison Keys vs. Alexandra Eala
• Anna Blinkova vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Elise Mertens vs. Iga Swiatek
• Karolina Muchova vs. Elina Svitolina
• Clara Tauson vs. Paula Badosa
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Taylor Townsend
• Rebeka Masarova vs. Danielle Collins
• Magda Linette vs. Linda Fruhvirtova
• Coco Gauff vs. Maria Sakkari: saturday
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q): 6-1, 0-0 ret.
• Ashlyn Krueger beat Leylah Fernandez (26): 6-1, 7-5
• Jasmine Paolini beat Ons Jabeur (31): 4-3 ret.