Osaka, defending champion Collins power into Miami third round

For the second year in a row, Naomi Osaka and Liudmila Samsonova faced off in the second round of a WTA 1000 event during the Sunshine Double. And for the second year in a row, former World No. 1 Osaka came away the straight-sets victor.

Osaka defeated No. 24 seed Samsonova 6-2, 6-4 at the Miami Open presented by Itaú on Thursday night. Osaka, the 2022 Miami Open finalist, held off a very last-minute surge by her opponent to close out the match in 1 hour and 22 minutes, repeating her win over Samsonova from Indian Wells last year.

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After a first-round loss at this year's Indian Wells event, Osaka has been back on track in Miami, following up her come-from-behind win over Yuliia Starodubtseva with her victory over Samsonova. Osaka has now compiled an 8-3 win-loss record in 2025.

Serving up stats: For almost the entire match, Osaka was relentless in her service games against 21st-ranked Samsonova, who just posted a quarterfinal result at Indian Wells last week.

Osaka won 79 percent of her first-serve points and exactly three-quarters of her second-serve points in the big-hitting showdown. She also fired six aces, just under her season average of 6.5 aces per match.

The four-time Grand Slam champion's serving stats would have been even better, but she did not close out the match at 5-3 in the second set (after holding a match point on return at 5-2). In that game, Samsonova grabbed her first break points of the match, and the seeded player broke with a forehand winner to pull back on serve.

But Osaka was nearly as stellar on return (she won 62 percent of points returning Samsonova's second serve), and she regrouped and broke serve for the win.

Wild card awaits: Osaka's next opponent will be wild card Hailey Baptiste of the United States. Earlier on Thursday, 98th-ranked Baptiste collected her third career Top 20 win with a gripping 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 upset of No. 12 seed Daria Kasatkina.

Osaka and Baptiste faced off for the first time in the first week of this year, in the Auckland quarterfinals. On that occasion, Osaka prevailed 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-2, en route to a runner-up showing to Clara Tauson in New Zealand.

Collins kicks off title defense: No. 14 seed Danielle Collins, who won her first WTA 1000 title here in Miami last year, joined Osaka in the third round after her own night-session victory.

Collins defeated Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 7-6(3) in Thursday's final match on the stadium court. Collins now holds a perfect 3-0 record against Cirstea after her 1-hour and 40-minute win.

Florida resident Collins has often posted strong results in Miami, with a 2018 semifinal showing and a 2022 quarterfinal run to go along with her 2024 title. Collins extended her Miami main-draw record to 19-5 by besting Cirstea.

Next up for Collins in her title defense will be her first meeting with qualifier Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland. Earlier on Thursday, Masarova upset Donna Vekic 6-1, 6-3 to earn her third career Top 20 win.