Call me “Clayomi”? Inspired by Nadal, Naomi Osaka scores second Top 20 win in Rome over Daria Kasatkina

ROME, Italy—Don’t call her “Clayomi.” At least, not yet, says Naomi Osaka.

“I think I need more clay credentials for that,” Osaka demurred after a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Daria Kasatkina at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The win over the No. 10 seed made it two Top 20 wins in a row for Osaka on clay, putting her into the fourth round at the Foro Italico for the first time since 2019.

“I'm very grateful to be back,” she said after backing up a win over Porsche Tennis Grand Prix finalist Marta Kostyuk to book a Round-of-16 clash with No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen. “I'm very grateful to be healthy because I know how much hard work it took for me to be here.”

Osaka has played solid tennis in the five months since returning to action after giving birth to daughter Shai in 2023, but few expectations were on the four-time Grand Slam champion when it came to one of her least favorite surfaces.

The 26-year-old self-described “baby giraffe” even shared that Kasatkina, a 2022 Roland Garros semifinalist, had destroyed her in a practice set during the Mutua Madrid Open only two weeks ago.

“I remember her beating me like 6-0, or 6-1, if I'm being generous to myself,” she said sheepishly in her post-match press conference.

“I just remember thinking, 'cause we were warming up before the actual practice set, and I was hanging in there with her. For some reason when the match started, I didn't really know how to play on clay. I didn't know how to structure the point.”

Osaka spent a strong week in Mallorca recalibrating for the clay swing and the results have paid off in Rome, where she has won three straight matches on clay for the first time since Madrid in 2019.

“It's definitely more mental,” she said of employing a more clay-friendly game, one inspired by none other than Rafael Nadal. “I could always do it. I'm a little impatient. Obviously when you hit a heavier ball, for me, I feel like I think about a moon ball. It didn't really click until I was watching Nadal play and seeing how he actually accelerates so much when he's doing that, knowing that a heavier ball sometimes is more difficult than a flatter shot.”

Osaka confirmed she’s been watching a lot of tennis during her time off, citing heavy hitters like Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev, who blasted his way to the Madrid title over the weekend.

“I wish with my whole heart to be where they are, so I'm doing whatever it takes,” Osaka said. “I don't know. I feel like I'm just clawing my way back to hopefully where I think I belong.”

Osaka’s next opponent is another big hitter in Zheng, who made her major breakthrough by reaching the 2024 Australian Open final at the start of the season. After dealing with a right leg injury that forced her to retire in Madrid, Zheng has looked much stronger in Rome, rallying from a set down to defeat Linda Noskova on Saturday. Their only previous match was last summer in San Jose, which Osaka won in three sets.

But that was Naomi. How will Clayomi fare as she aims to reach her second WTA 1000 quarterfinal of the season?