Osaka makes 'real-time adjustments' to escape lucky loser Golubic in Rome

Naomi Osaka came back from the brink against lucky loser Viktorija Golubic in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, escaping 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 to extend her clay-court winning streak to seven matches following last week's Saint-Malo WTA 125 title.

Rome: Draws | Scores | Order of play

Osaka had originally been set to play a marquee match against No. 9 seed Paula Badosa, but shortly before the pair were due to take the court, the Spaniard withdrew due to the back injury that has plagued her throughout 2025. Osaka was informed half an hour ahead of the match -- and then, as she put it with a wry smile, "things got a little hectic" from there.

Osaka had been aware of Badosa's injury issues, but had still been focused on preparing for her -- and had overlooked a key tennis rule.

"Unless she plays another lead-up, this is the only clay-court tournament left [before Roland Garros]", Osaka explained. "I was 90% expecting to play her. And I didn't know lucky losers could replace seeds, so I thought if she pulled out, I'd get a walkover. I learned a lot of rules about tournaments today."

Instead, she got Golubic, whose throwback web of stylish finesse could not be more contrasting to Badosa's power and physicality. Osaka had defeated Golubic 6-3, 6-2 in their only previous meeting, in the second round of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. But for nearly two sets this time, the 32-year-old was able to deploy her full repertoire of slices, drop shots and one-handed backhands to disrupt Osaka's game.

In the second round of Saint-Malo, Osaka had found herself trailing Diane Parry in the third set. On Wednesday, she admitted that her thoughts had drifted to seeing her daughter, Shai, during that match before recovering to win. There was a sense of déjà vu against Golubic: once again Osaka found herself in a losing position to a player with a single-handed backhand, and once again she thought of Shai.

"I thought, if I could get a flight at midnight I could beat the timezone and come back with a week before the French Open," she admitted. "It's a really terrible way of thinking and if [coach] Patrick [Mouratoglou] reads this, he's going to be pissed. But I'm glad I was able to switch my train of thought before that happened."

Instead, Osaka successfully made the "real-time adjustments" necessary to work out the Golubic game. The Swiss player twice went up a break in the second set, and served for the match at 5-4. But Osaka played with her greatest purpose and precision with her back to the wall. She broke Golubic back to level the second set at 3-3 in a flurry of winners; and though that did not lead to momentum immediately, it foreshadowed how Osaka would soon wrench the match back in her favor. From 5-4 down, she found that form again and this time sustained it brilliantly, reeling off eight straight games to go 5-0 up in the decider.

"It got to a point where I knew this was the last game," Osaka said. "I wanted her to prove to me why she should win. I thought, I'm pretty sure I'm losing because I'm making errors. She's not hitting winners on me. I'm just going to make her play the absolute best game of her life to win this match."

Osaka will next face either No. 18 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia or Marie Bouzkova as she bids to return to the last 16 in Rome for a second year in a row.

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