Pumped-up Osaka battles past Cirstea in another Australian Open three-setter

Clad once again in her aquamarine, jellyfish-inspired outfit, Naomi Osaka showed that it was the timing of her sting that mattered the most. For the second round in a row, she was taken to three sets. For the second match in a row, she elevated her level when she needed to, pulling away from Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in exactly two hours.

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There was some ill feeling towards the end of the contest. Serving down 4-2, 30-30 in the third set, Cirstea registered an objection with the umpire regarding Osaka's "c'mon" in between her first and second deliveries. On resuming play, the Romanian promptly sent two forehands long to put Osaka a double break up. Once Osaka had served out the win efficiently, the pair had words at net.

Asked what it had taken to get through the match in her on-court interview, Osaka responded: "Apparently a lot of c'mons that she was angry about," before raising her hands skywards.

"I mean, I tried to play well," she continued. "I think I did a lot of unforced errors, but I tried my best. She's a great player; I think this was her last Australian Open, so ... sorry she was mad about it."

Better vibes were to be found in the crowd, where two fans had wasted no time in creating their own versions of the butterfly-ornamented hat and veil that Osaka had worn for her Tuesday walk-on. The four-time major champion gave them a shout-out in her on-court interview.

"I don't really talk that much, but I like to express myself through clothes," she said. "I'm really glad you guys loved it -- you guys look really cool, by the way."

Later, both Osaka and Cirstea sought to downplay the incident in their respective press conferences.

"I have been playing for 20 years," said Cirstea. "It's more than going on than a five-second discussion at the end that I had with Naomi. We just had a chat. Nothing big. Again, I don't think that's the main thing after tonight's match. Again, it was a good match. She was much better than me towards the end. Yeah, she deserved the win."

Osaka also lowered the temperature in the press room.

"I'm a little confused," she said. "I guess that emotions were very high for her. I also want to apologize. I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do ... But when I'm pumping myself up, in my head I'm not like, 'OK, now I'm going to distract the other person.' It's purely for me."

The result was a revenge that had been over a decade in the making. Back in 2015, a 17-year-old Osaka made her Grand Slam qualifying debut at Wimbledon, only to be drawn against Cirstea -- then a former Top 30 player on the comeback trail from injury. Cirstea won that encounter 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 -- and then, remarkably, the pair did not meet again until this week.

Cirstea, who has announced that 2026 will be her final season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, put Osaka under pressure immediately as she took a 2-0 lead. But Osaka responded with a brilliant, high-intensity stretch of play to take six of the next seven games. Highlights included an angled backhand pass on the run to break Cirstea back early on, and a superb backhand volley at full stretch to save break point against her in the final game of the set -- one of a perfect seven out of seven points Osaka won at net.

Undaunted, the No. 41-ranked Cirstea hit back in the second set despite once again losing an early break lead. At 3-3, the 35-year-old saved a pair of break points against her, and pounced as Osaka lapsed into error while serving to stay in the set.

It was only a brief lapse. The Osaka forehand was quickly on song again at the start of the decider as she broke Cirstea with a slew of winners from that wing. Despite an off-court medical timeout leading 2-1 and the fractiousness of the latter stages, the former World No. 1 never relinquished momentum. She finished the match with 38 winners, including three aces, to Cirstea's 10, and saved five out of eight break points against her.

Osaka will next face the last remaining home hope in the women's draw, Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis, as she bids to return to the Australian Open fourth round for the first time since her 2021 title run.