Osaka battles back to beat Golubic for third-round spot in Rome

Naomi Osaka often says, since being coached by Patrick Mouratoglou, that the Frenchman has reignited her desire to fight for victory, even on days when she is disappointed by her level of play and her sensations. The second round of the WTA 1000 in Rome gave her the opportunity to demonstrate this.

Facing Swiss lucky loser Viktorija Golubic, rather than the seeded Paula Badosa, who is still suffering from a back injury and who pulled out on the morning of the match, the Japanese narrowly avoided an early exit as she battled through 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, escaping from the verge of defeat by breaking back when Golubic served for the match at 5-4 in the second set.

She was saved by her fighting spirit, securing her seventh consecutive clay-court victory following her title at the WTA 125 event in Saint-Malo last Sunday. She’ll play Beatriz Haddad Maia or Marie Bouzkova in the third round.

It was her seventh match in 10 days and a sense of fatigue may also have caught up with the former world No 1 under the Italian sun. Twenty four hours earlier, Osaka had comfortably defeated Italian wildcard Sara Errani (6-2, 6-3) on Campo Centrale.

Golubic, one of the few players on the WTA Tour who plays with a one-handed backhand, served for the match at 6-2, 5-4 but Osaka erased that opportunity with a commanding break to love, by far her best of the match up to that point.

From then on, it was a one-sided encounter, with Osaka, fist clenched, hungry for victories as she has been since her final in Auckland earlier this year, and Golubic becoming less aggressive and visibly affected by her missed opportunities. The Swiss managed to win only 14 points during the last 10 games of the match.

Osaka’s first serve was the key

This second-round match once again highlighted the fine line in the risk-taking game of the highly sensitive Osaka between off days, like her first-round defeat in Madrid against Lucia Bronzetti, and the full expression of her striking power, capable of producing exceptional tennis even on clay, as she did in the third set.

The match also underscored the importance of her first serve in her overall effectiveness. As long as her first serve percentage was below 50%, the Japanese player was trailing (43 percent in the first set, which she lost 6-2, despite winning 80 percent of the points on her first serve). Her comeback coincided with the resurgence of her first serve, reaching 72 percent in the third set, during which she won 77 percent of the points behind it.

Osaka will play the winner of the match between Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, the No 18 seed, and Marie Bouzkova in the next round.

Roma WTA 1000, other second-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 6.009.593, most recent results first):

• Emiliana Arango vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Linda Noskova vs. Sonay Kartal
• Katie Volynets vs. Clara Tauson
• Emma Navarro vs. Kamilla Rakhimova
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Amanda Anisimova
• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Emma Raducanu
• Maria Sakkari vs. Magda Linette
• Coco Gauff vs. Victoria Mboko
• Olga Danilovic vs. Qinwen Zheng
• Magdalena Frech vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Bianca Andreescu vs. Donna Vekic
• Elena Rybakina vs. Eva Lys
• Marta Kostyuk vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Leylah Fernandez vs. Antonia Ruzic
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Sofia Kenin
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Karolina Muchova
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Marie Bouzkova
• Madison Keys vs. Varvara Gracheva
• Ashlyn Krueger vs. Jessica Pegula
• Elina Svitolina vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Lulu Sun
• Danielle Collins vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse
• Hailey Baptiste vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Iga Swiatek
• Peyton Stearns vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Elise Mertens vs. Suzan Lamens
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Rebecca Sramkova: thursday
• Diana Shnaider vs. Caroline Dolehide: thursday
• Jaqueline Cristian vs. Yulia Putintseva: thursday
• Petra Kvitova vs. Ons Jabeur