Qatar Open: Impressive Naomi Osaka battles past Martic to reach 16

Naomi Osaka dug deep in the second set to beat Petra Martic 6-3, 7-6 (9) and move into the last 16 of the Qatar Open in Doha.

In just her sixth match back from maternity leave, the former world No 1 looked impressive throughout as she struck the ball with confidence and purpose against a highly dangerous and experienced opponent.

Osaka required just the one break in the first set as she remained unimpeachable on serve to take the opener 6-3.

However, the second proved much more challenging. Osaka broke in the fifth game of the set but was broken straight back in the next game.

The four-time Grand Slam champion struck again only for Martic to once again peg Osaka back as she was serving for the match at 5-4.

A tense tiebreak followed during which Osaka fought back from 4-0 down, saving four sets points in the process, to clinch a hugely significant win following a 74-minute final stanza.

It is the first time that Osaka has won consecutive matches since her long-awaited comeback to the WTA tour in January.

She will face Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko next.

The Japanese beat Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, the No 15 seed (7-5, 6-4) in the previous round of the Qatar tournament.

In the previous round of the Qatar tournament, Martic, ranked No 67, edged out Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus (7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (5)).

Doha WTA 1000, other second-round results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 3.211.715, most recent results first):

• Lin Zhu vs. Elena Rybakina: tuesday
• Lesia Tsurenko beat Ons Jabeur (4): 6-3, 6-2
• Jelena Ostapenko (8) beat Anhelina Kalinina: 6-0, 6-3
• Katerina Siniakova beat Coco Gauff (2): 6-2, 6-4
• Karolina Pliskova beat Anastasia Potapova: 6-1, 5-7, 6-4
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) beat Erika Andreeva (Q): 6-0, 3-6, 6-1
• Danielle Collins (Q) beat Marie Bouzkova: 6-4, 7-5
• Linda Noskova beat Maria Sakkari (7): 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5
• Victoria Azarenka beat Xinyu Wang: 7-6 (2), 6-2
• Emma Navarro (16) beat Elise Mertens: 6-1, 6-3
• Leylah Fernandez beat Paula Badosa (WC): 0-6, 6-2, 6-3
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Marta Kostyuk: 2-1 ret.
• Qinwen Zheng (5) beat Magda Linette: 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
• Marketa Vondrousova (6) beat Greet Minnen (Q): 6-2, 0-6, 6-4
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Sorana Cirstea: 6-1, 6-1