Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka beat world number 67 Petra Martic 6-3 7-6 (11-9) at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha to earn back-to-back wins for the first time on the WTA Tour since the 2022 Miami Open, where she eventually lost to Iga Swiatek in the final.
Osaka dropped just five points on serve in the first set, and broke serve at love in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. The Japanese player held on her next service games to win the first set 6-3.
Both players traded breaks in the fifth and sixth games of the second set. Osaka broke serve in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead, but she was not able to serve out the win at 6-3 5-4, as Martic broke back for the second time to draw level to 5-5.
Martic raced out to a 4-0 lead in the tie-break with two mini-breaks. Osaka pulled one of the mini-breaks back to reduce her deficit to 3-4. Martic earned three set points at 6-3 and another chance at 9-8 after saving two match points at 6-7 and 8-9. Osaka fended off the fourth set point with a backhand winner down the line and won the final three points to clinch the tie-break 11-9.
Osaka set up a third round match against Lesla Tsurenko, who upset Ons Jabeur 6-3 6-2 clinching the ninth top 10 win of her career.
Tsurenko won nine consecutive games from 1-3 down in the first set. The Ukrainian player broke serve in a nine-deuce sixth game on her 10thbreak point to draw level to 3-3.
Tsurenko scored her first top 10 win in five years, when she beat Osaka 6-2 6-4 in the semifinals of the 2019 Brisbane International. Osaka leads 2-1 in her three head-to-head matches against Tsurenko.
