It will take patience and foresight after trying to return to the cutthroat world of professional tennis, but Osaka’s comeback is starting to gather pace as she reaches her first quarter-final in almost two years at the Qatar Open.
Osaka was scheduled to face Lesia Chulenko in the third round on Wednesday, but the Ukrainian withdrew due to an elbow injury. Prior to that, the former world No. 1 had two strong wins at WTA 1000 events.
She played an outstanding performance in her first match, winning 7-5, 6-4 to avenge her loss to No. 15 seed Caroline Garcia in the first round of the Australian Open.
Osaka then defeated Petra Martic 6-3, 7-6 (9). The four-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 has not reached the quarterfinals since the Miami Open in March 2022.
Osaka gave birth to her daughter Shai seven months ago and took a total of 15 months of rest. Since returning in January she has faced tough draws against top players, although she is understandably still far from her best.
In her comeback match in Brisbane, Osaka lost to Karolina Pliskova in a quality three-set second round match, before Garcia played a fine match in Melbourne. While the 26-year-old’s serve and groundstrokes are still as strong as ever, she’s still in solid form on her return of serve and her decision-making on important points and moves.
As she struggled to find her range, Osaka’s frustration was evident in Abu Dhabi last week, when she failed in her first-round match, losing 7-5, 6-0 to Danielle Collins, losing the final Nine games. She lost three of her first four fights but maintained a positive attitude off the court, and despite her reputation for a light schedule, she showed her determination to overcome early difficulties with three straight fights this month.
“I talked to my team and the most important thing is to do my best,” Osaka told the WTA earlier this week. “Hopefully the results will come, but I know there will be a lot of tough games and probably a lot of scrappy games.
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“I just have to learn how to get back into the rhythm of the game and know there’s no such thing as failure. You just have to keep getting up.”
Osaka’s tenacity paid off this week as she played well, enjoyed a bit of luck and now faces former world number one Pliskova in the semi-finals of a major tournament. Pliskova is also trying to rediscover her highest level, after injuries and poor form caused her ranking to drop to 78th.It’s been a crazy few days since winning her first indoor title in four years at the WTA 250 event in Cluj, Romania.
Hours after her victory on Sunday night, Pliskova flew to Doha, arriving 12 hours before her first-round match on Monday. Despite fatigue, a new continent and vastly different conditions, Pliskova continued to win. On Wednesday, she defeated Linda Noskova 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals with her seventh victory in seven days.
