Naomi Osaka battles through heat to reach Bad Homburg quarter-finals

[p]For the second match in a row, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osaka-naomi/MDM4BKiA/"]Osaka[/a] raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set before allowing her opponent to fight back.[/p][p]On Sunday, in the first round, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/frech-magdalena/W6pL8zuB/"]Magdalena Frech[/a] cut the gap to 5-4 before Osaka reasserted control.[/p][p]Belgian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mertens-elise/Y1ZrrUtl/"]Mertens[/a] came back to 5-3, before Osaka sealed the set before cruising through the second [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/mertens-e-Y1ZrrUtl/osaka-n-MDM4BKiA/?mid=dtrRBd74"]to reach her first quarter-final of 2026[/a].[/p][p]"[b]In my last match I had a huge dip in the first set, and this time I tried to be pretty stable[/b]," Osaka said. "[b]So it's honestly really fun to learn match by match[/b]."[/p][p]Osaka, the Japanese fifth seeded, said she was not bothered by temperatures in the mid-30s.[/p][p]"[b]I'm pretty heat-tolerant[/b]," Osaka said. "[b]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[/b]."[/p][embed guid="d645dd13-f27e-4a8d-a3b5-ca1c1150a92b" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oXZvZ0kphE" social-type="youtube" /][p]In the next round, she will face the winner of the match between [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/andreeva-mirra/lI6fOOat/"]Mirra Andreeva[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alexandrova-ekaterina/dzbgeEFF/"]Ekaterina Alexandrova[/a], who meet on Wednesday.[/p][p]Andreeva will be playing her first match since winning Roland Garros.[/p][p]Two days after winning the Berlin title to climb to 10th in the world, Czech [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/noskova-linda/zHMiAkw6/"]Linda Noskova[/a] fell to Romanian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruse-elena-gabriela/ra7IoKGO/"]Elena-Gabriela Ruse[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/noskova-l-zHMiAkw6/ruse-g-ra7IoKGO/?mid=A9kMZRaL"]6-1, 6-3[/a].[/p][p]Novoska's first-round match was delayed because she also reached the delayed doubles final in Berlin, which she won with Alexandrova on Monday.[/p][p]In the second round, Ruse will face [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kalinskaya-anna/KGdcQnEf/"]Anna Kalinskaya[/a]. It will be the first meeting between the two players.[/p][p]Ukrainian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/monfils-elina/jyngIesG/"]Elina Svitolina[/a] battled past Russian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/samsonova-liudmila/hIA4C9YT/"]Liudmila Samsonova[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/samsonova-l-hIA4C9YT/svitolina-e-jyngIesG/?mid=QHuXmEQ8"]3-6, 6-3, 6-2[/a] in two hours and 12 minutes and will face Chinese world No. 52 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wang-xinyu-2001/8jMJmh84/"]Wang Xinyu[/a].[/p]