No. 1 seed Naomi Osaka had to receive a medical timeout very late in her round-of-16 match at the WTA 250 tournament in Osaka but still managed to close out world No. 57 Suzan Lamens 7-6 (6) 3-6 6-2.
The first set was a rollercoaster as Osaka won the opening two games before Lamens took five of the next six games to open a 5-3 lead. The Japanese tennis star managed to prevent the Dutch from serving out for the first set, but she also missed out on three set points in the 12th game before sealing a very tight opener by converting her fifth set in the first-set tie-break.
After dropping the first set in a painful way, Lamens bounced back with an early second-set break and then just held to her serve for the rest of the set to force a decider.
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Osaka was up big before injuring herself
Losing the second set didn't impact the home favorite much since she responded by storming to a 5-0 third-set lead. But then, the top-seeded Japanese injured herself - stopped play - and asked for a physio to come out in the middle of the sixth game.
After receiving a treatment, the Japanese continued play with her left thigh strapped and lost the sixth game, as well as the seventh game after missing out on two consecutive match points. However, the home favorite didn't panic and broke Lamens in the eighth game to seal a three-set win.
In the Osaka quarterfinal, the four-time Grand Slam champion plays against Jaqueline Cristian.
