Naomi Osaka shrugged off the heat and another first-set freeze to breeze past Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Bad Homburg grass-court tournament on Tuesday.
Osaka's First-Set Pattern Continues
For the second match in a row, Osaka raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set before allowing her opponent to fight back. On Sunday, in the first round, Magdalena Frech cut the gap to 5-4 before Osaka reasserted control. Belgian Mertens came back to 5-3, before Osaka sealed the set before cruising through the second to reach her first quarterfinal of 2026.
"In my last match I had a huge dip in the first set, and this time I tried to be pretty stable," Osaka said. "So it's honestly really fun to learn match by match."
Heat Tolerance and Next Opponent
Osaka, the Japanese fifth seed, said she was not bothered by temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius. "I'm pretty heat-tolerant," Osaka said. "I really love the heat. I kind of prefer it. It was hot in Paris a few weeks ago and I also enjoyed that, so I kind of want it to be hot."
In the next round, she will face the winner of the match between Mirra Andreeva and Ekaterina Alexandrova, who meet on Wednesday. Andreeva will be playing her first match since winning Roland Garros.
Noskova Falls After Berlin Triumph
Two days after winning the Berlin title to climb to 10th in the world, Czech Linda Noskova fell to Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-1, 6-3. Noskova's first-round match was delayed because she also reached the delayed doubles final in Berlin which she won, with Alexandrova on Monday.
In the second round, Ruse will face Anna Kalinskaya. It will be the first meeting between the two players.
Svitolina Battles Past Samsonova
Ukrainian Elina Svitolina battled past Russian Liudmila Samsonova 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours 12 minutes and will face Chinese world No. 52 Wang Xinyu.
