It has taken patience and perspective after her tentative first steps back into the brutal world of professional tennis, but Naomi Osaka’s comeback is beginning to pick up steam as she reached her first quarter-final in nearly two years, at the Qatar Open.
On Wednesday, Osaka had been due to face Lesia Tsurenko in their third-round match but the Ukrainian withdrew with an elbow injury. The walkover had been preceded by two strong victories for Osaka at the WTA 1000 event. She played an excellent opening match to avenge her Australian Open first-round loss to Caroline Garcia, the 15th seed in Doha, winning 7-5, 6-4.
Osaka followed that up with a solid 6-3, 7-6 (9) win over Petra Martic. The four-time grand slam champion and former world No. 1 has not made the last eight since the Miami Open in March 2022.
Osaka gave birth to her daughter, Shai, seven months ago and took 15 months off in all. Since returning in January, Osaka has faced tough draws and her opponents have consistently risen to the occasion of facing a top player, even though she is understandably far from her best level.
In her comeback tournament, Osaka was defeated in the second round by Karolina Pliskova in a high-quality, three-set battle before Garcia played a brilliant match to beat Osaka in two tight sets in Melbourne. While the 26-year-old’s serve and groundstrokes remain as potent as ever, she has still been finding her feet with her return of serve, her decision-making on important points and her movement.
As she struggled to find her range, Osaka’s frustration was evident last week in Abu Dhabi as she folded in her first-round match, losing the final nine games in a 7-5, 6-0 loss to Danielle Collins. Osaka had lost three of her first four matches back, but she has remained positive off the court and, despite her reputation for playing a light schedule, she has demonstrated her determination to work through her early difficulties by committing to three consecutive tournaments this month.
“I had a talk with my team and the most important thing is just to try as hard as I can,” Osaka told the WTA at the beginning of this week. “Hopefully the results will come but I know there will be a lot of tough matches and probably a lot of scrappy ones.
“I just have to learn how to have match rhythm again and know that there’s no such thing as failure. You just have to keep on getting back up.”
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Osaka’s resilience has been rewarded this week as she has played well and enjoyed a small slice of luck and she will now face Pliskova, a fellow former No. 1, with a semi-final in a significant tournament on the line. Pliskova is also attempting to rediscover her top level after injuries and indifferent form led to her falling to No. 78 in the rankings. She has enjoyed a wild few days since winning her first title in four years indoors at the WTA 250 event in Cluj, Romania.
A few hours after lifting the title on Sunday night, Pliskova flew to Doha, arriving 12 hours before her first-round match on Monday. Despite her fatigue, a new continent and the starkly different conditions, Pliskova has kept on winning. On Wednesday, she defeated Linda Noskova 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to advance to the quarter-finals with her seventh win in seven days.
