Naomi Osaka rallied to beat Yulia Putintseva in the second round of the China Open on Friday, ending a wait of over two years for a comeback victory. (More Tennis News)
Osaka came from a set down to win 3-6 6-4 6-2 and tee up a third-round meeting with Katie Volynets, extending her winning streak at the Beijing event to eight matches
Naomi Osaka rallied to beat Yulia Putintseva in the second round of the China Open on Friday, ending a wait of over two years for a comeback victory. (More Tennis News)
Osaka came from a set down to win 3-6 6-4 6-2 and tee up a third-round meeting with Katie Volynets, extending her winning streak at the Beijing event to eight matches.
She had failed to win any of her previous 22 matches when going a set down, a streak she was mightily relieved to snap.
"I heard that stat from my agent," Osaka told reporters after her win.
"I wanted to break it really badly because I knew that I also had a stat about three-setters before I took my break, so that was really important to me.
"I also wanted to show myself that I could win a match and fight without playing as perfectly as I wanted to."
Data Debrief: Back-to-back for Osaka
This is the first time Osaka has won back-to-back matches since June at 's-Hertogenbosch, where she reached the quarter-finals before falling to Bianca Andreescu.
The last time she won from a set down, meanwhile, was in the Miami Open semi-finals in 2022, when she beat Belinda Bencic before losing to Iga Swiatek in the final.