It was impossible to hide Naomi Osaka's joy and relief on Wednesday.
After a shocking loss to No. 20 seed Karolina Muchova, Osaka came back strong to score its biggest win since returning from maternity leave more than a year ago.
In front of an enthusiastic crowd at Kia Arena, on the third match point, Osaka sealed an incredible victory 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, advancing to the last 32 of a major for the first time in three years. She jumped up and down, waving her hands and smiling. Then she put her hand over her heart and closed her eyes.
For the four-time Grand Slam champion, including two Australian Open titles, it's not just the win or her ticket to the third round that makes her so emotional, it's the way she performs and who she plays against. In two matches in Melbourne, including a first-round match against former world number four Caroline Garcia, Osaka needed three sets to defeat the formidable opponent who will defeat her at the 2024 Grand Slam.
These wins mark the progress she has made since her return and serve as a reminder of how good she can be.
"It means a lot," Osaka told the crowd in an on-court interview. "(Mukhova) was a very tough opponent for me. She beat me at the U.S. Open and I was wearing the best outfit I've ever worn. I'm very disappointed. I'm very angry.
"I'm glad I got revenge. It's not a bad thing, revenge is competitive. She's one of the toughest opponents out there."
Osaka's journey has been a rollercoaster since her return - even in the first three weeks of the 2025 season.
When Osaka announced her pregnancy ahead of the 2023 Australian Open, some wondered whether she would return to tennis. She spoke candidly about her mental health challenges and opened up about the toll that fame and success took on her. She has quit the sport multiple times and her future seems uncertain.
But during her time away, Osaka insisted she would return — appearing as a spectator at the 2023 U.S. Open and posting a training video in the fall — and she kept that promise. However, despite showing flashes of her previous championship form, her comeback season in 2024 will be challenging. She lost to Garcia in the first round of the Australian Open and never advanced past the second round at any Grand Slam tournament. She reached only two WTA quarterfinals this year.
But this year has shown more promise. After parting ways with coach Wim Fiset in September, Osaka began working with Patrick Mouratoglou, the former long-time coach of legendary tennis star Serena Williams. After offseason training in Los Angeles, Osaka started the new year in Oakland with her first finals appearance in nearly three years.
But after convincingly defeating Clara Towson in the first set in the championship match, she had to withdraw due to an abdominal injury. Tears welled up in her eyes and her Australian Open credentials were immediately called into question.
Despite undergoing an MRI scan shortly thereafter and "not ideally", Osaka wanted to try and compete. With more than a week to go before the start of the Australian Open, she showed little sign of discomfort in the first match of her revenge tour against Garcia, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
She also went through a challenging time off the court. Last week, she publicly announced her separation from her partner, rapper Cordae, the father of her daughter, and recently revealed that wildfires were approaching her home in Los Angeles.
"I was looking at the fire map and the fire was only three blocks from my house," Osaka said after his first-round win. "So I had people go get my daughter's birth certificate and stuff like that because I didn't know what would happen if it got burned."
Everything seemed to be catching up with her in Wednesday's first set against Muchova. She simply had no answer for Muchova's incredible athleticism and versatility. In just 20 minutes, Osaka fell behind 0-5, and the game ended after more than 10 minutes. Despite the lopsided score, Osaka said she did everything she could to keep her spirits up during the match.
"I wasn't really prepared, but I just (wanted) to be aware and try not to let (myself) get so negative," Osaka later told reporters wearing a Dodgers hat and Lakers jersey. “I think for me the scoreline in the first set was pretty dramatic, but there were some key points where I might have won a match here or there, so I kept trying to tell myself, yeah, just try not to live in the past. "
Her strategy worked. In the second set, Muchova fell into a situation where she was desperately trying to figure out Osaka's game, and she was overwhelmed by Osaka's power.
In her first season back, Osaka's once-trademark confidence has looked shaky at times, often finding herself in trouble during the most crucial moments of a match, as she did against Iga Swiatek at the 2024 French Open. in a blockbuster showdown. But there was no evidence Wednesday to raise doubts. Although Muchova raised her game in the deciding set, Osaka broke her in the fifth game and was firmly in control from then on.
"I always believed in myself," Osaka said later.
She added that she wasn't worried about her race "going away" and credited running in Auckland for preparing her mentally and physically.
Osaka, 27, will face another tough test on Friday against 2020 Olympic gold medalist and former U.S. Open semifinalist Belinda Bencic, who returned from giving birth earlier this month. Bencic, who beat Osaka 3-2, said their previous results were somewhat irrelevant at this stage but said she was looking forward to an "interesting match" and was excited about the opportunity.
Osaka said Bencic was "a very strong player" and was not focusing on their shared status as mothers when preparing for the match.
"This might add something extra for you guys," she told reporters. "For me not necessarily... when you step on a tennis court, you just think of yourself as a tennis player."
If Osaka wins, she could set up a blockbuster fourth-round showdown with third-seeded and 2023 U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff.
Osaka wasn't thinking about Gauff or anything else Wednesday night. In fact, she said she could barely think about Bencic after such a grueling match. She also isn't thinking too much about reaching the third round for the first time since 2022, but admits it was a goal heading into the season, as was beating the seeded players. Now, she said, she just wants to keep playing and will do whatever it takes to keep winning.
"I've accepted that in order to get me off the court, you have to take me away in an ambulance," Osaka said with a smile at the end of the press conference. "Obviously, I won the match today. I did a good job and served well. So, yeah, I'm a little bit excited about it."