Nicole Gauff and Naomi Osaka might play at the BNB Paribas Open at Indian Wells. In her fifth tournament since coming back to the tour after giving birth and first time at the tournament since 2022, the 27-year-old beat a player ranked in the top 20.

It took four Grand Slam wins for the player to get to the third round in the Californian heat. She beat Liudmila Samsonova 7-5, 6-3. She told the crowd, “Thank you everyone,” after getting her first top 20 as a mother. “I just wanted to say that I know I’ve done a few things in my career.”I call some of them “growing pains.” Thanks for always being there for me and letting me grow up at my own pace. Samsonova won four games in a row to serve for the first set at 5-4. However, Osaka, who won Indian Wells in 2018, broke back and held serve to take the lead 6-5.

She then won the match with a hot backhand down the line at set point, giving her the lead in the hard-hitting match. In the second set, 3-1, the former world number one got the only break. In the last game of the match, he saved one break point.

Osaka won in one hour and 37 minutes by hitting 13 winners. With this win, she tied Sloane Stephens for the most WTA-1000 wins by a player outside the top 250 since 2009. “I think, for me, I just want to have a lot more fun on the court,” Osaka said.

“When I was in Australia, I was really hard on myself, and I didn’t enjoy just being on the court.” I just really wanted to stress that I don’t expect to win every match in this event. I just want to have fun and enjoy the moments while I can.

The next person Osaka plays is Elise Mertens, who is also a tough opponent. She will need to beat the Belgian before she can play Gauff for the fifth time in her career. On the other hand, the teenager kept her Indian Wells hopes alive by beating Frenchwoman Clara Burel in a very amazing comeback.

In the third set, the US Open winner fell behind 2-6, 0-2, 0-4 and 2-5 before coming back to win in a tiebreak with the last set. In the next round, the third seed will play Lucia Bronzetti from Italy. “Happy with the mental fight,” Gauff said after the game. “I didn’t play my best tennis, but how you act on bad days is more important than how you act on good days.” “I’m pleased with how I behaved today.”

Also, she said, “I think just getting through that match meant a lot to me.” It would have been easy for me to give up. But I was really just telling myself that I don’t want to feel bad about anything on the court, win or lose. To be like that, I gave myself the best chance to win, which I did.

Am I happy with how I played? To be honest, not really. I’m proud of the fight, though. I want to get better. I don’t think it was my best tennis at all. I believe I have many things I can do to improve and get better.