Naomi Osaka toughed out a 7-6(3) 6-4 win over Ajla Tomljanovic to reach the third round at the Miami Open.
In Osaka’s first match since the Australian Open, the world number two continued a red-hot form with victory.
Although Osaka is arguably the most in-form player in the world right now, the match wasn’t easy as the Australian brought her A game.
Tomljanovic was a break up twice in the second set, more notably at 3-2, with some big hitting from the back of the court matched with some good point construction.
Despite the deficit, Osaka managed to create devastating angles and create power as well as depth from both wings.
When the pressure was on the world number 77 to close out the opening set, Osaka used her experience and calmness to break to love to seal the break back for 5-5.
A tiebreak loomed with Osaka dominating proceedings with some clutch serving as she took the first set 7-3 in the tiebreak in 55 minutes.
If you thought after a tight first set it was going to be all one-way traffic, then you were clearly wrong as Tomljanovic continued to apply solid pressure.
The Australian had already produced another good performance at the Australian Open against Simona Halep and continued to rise against playing the big players.
A lack of clinical edge would continue to be her downfall though as she failed to capitalise on three break points for a 2-0 lead.
Continuing to apply the pressure, Osaka looked at ease in dominating the rally and changing the tempo at any point during the contest.
Tomljanovic continued to serve well in big and important points but eventually the tactical level of Osaka was too much as she managed to transition from defensive to attacking patterns of play easily.
After breaking in the ninth game, Osaka closed out the match in 1 hour and 41 minutes to extend her winning streak to 22 matches.
Osaka will now play Yulia Putintseva or Nina Stojanovic in the third round as she looks to win another title.
Here are some of the other results so far as the second round reaches its conclusion on Friday:
Elise Mertens def Katie Boulter 6-4 6-1
Garbine Muguruza def Xinyu Wang 6-4 6-1
Karolina Pliskova def Shuai Zhang 6-2 6-1
