Osaka winds back the years to stun Samsonova at Miami Open

Japanese Naomi Osaka won against Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 24 seed, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the third round of the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday night.

The former world No 1 rolled back the years to play at a level reminiscent of the one that earned her four Grand Slams before she took leave of the WTA Tour to give birth to her daughter in 2023.

She was untouchable on serve for all but one game of the match, racing through two sets and dominating Samsonova from the baseline as well.

Nerves struck as Osaka had her first chance to serve out the match, with the 27-year-old getting broken in the ninth game of the second set. She held her nerve in the subsequent game, however, breaking Samsonova to book her place in the third round.

Earlier in the tournament, Osaka had declared her deep desire to “play with the big dogs”. Having just knocked out the No 24 seed, she is well on her way to doing that next week in Miami.

Osaka, ranked No 61, will face American wildcard Hailey Baptiste next.

The Japanese defeated Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva (3-6, 6-4, 6-3) in the previous round of the Miami tournament.

Miami WTA 1000, other second-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Madison Keys vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Amanda Anisimova vs. Mayar Sherif
• Belinda Bencic vs. Elina Svitolina
• Karolina Muchova vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Kimberly Birrell vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Clara Tauson vs. Julia Grabher
• Bernarda Pera vs. Jessica Pegula
• McCartney Kessler vs. Linda Noskova
• Elise Mertens vs. Peyton Stearns
• Victoria Mboko vs. Paula Badosa
• Alexandra Eala vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Emma Navarro vs. Emma Raducanu
• Caroline Garcia vs. Iga Swiatek
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Moyuka Uchijima
• Diana Shnaider vs. Anna Blinkova
• Sorana Cirstea vs. Danielle Collins
• Linda Fruhvirtova (Q) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (16): 6-0, 6-2
• Rebeka Masarova (Q) beat Donna Vekic (21): 6-1, 6-3
• Hailey Baptiste beat Daria Kasatkina (12): 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
• Maria Sakkari (28) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Ons Jabeur (31) beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-4, 7-6 (7)
• Taylor Townsend (Q) beat Yulia Putintseva (19): 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-1
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Viktoriya Tomova: 6-3, 6-0
• Magda Linette beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (18): 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Sofia Kenin: 6-0, 6-0
• Leylah Fernandez (26) beat Alycia Parks: 7-6 (1), 6-3
• Ashlyn Krueger beat Elena Rybakina (7): 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
• Jasmine Paolini (6) beat Rebecca Sramkova: 6-4, 6-4
• Qinwen Zheng (9) beat Lauren Davis: 6-1, 7-5
• Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q) beat Magdalena Frech (29): 6-4, 6-4