PARIS: If Naomi Osaka is going to win a third successive Grand Slam title she seems determined to do it the hard way. For the second time in three days the 21-year-old Japanese found herself in deep trouble at the French Open on Thursday, but once again displayed true grit to claw out a victory, this time beating Victoria Azarenka 4-6 7-5 6-3. Against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the first round on Tuesday she lost the first set 6-0, winning only nine points, and later said she had been a bundle of nerves. She lost the opening four games against Azarenka but this time it was less to do with her own mistakes and more to do with the fact Azarenka was playing tennis reminiscent of that which took her to two Australian Open titles and to world number one. World number 43 Azarenka, on the way back up after her career was put on hold to have a baby in 2016, could not miss. Osaka finally stemmed the flow with an ace to get on the scoreboard in the fifth game and from that point on the Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd were treated to a superb contest.