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BERLIN: Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova came from a set down to beat Naomi Osaka 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in the first round of the Berlin Open WTA event on Tuesday.

The world number 20, who won the tournament in 2021, took two hours and 36 minutes to get past the four-time Grand Slam winner.

Samsonova’s victory sets up a last 16 clash with American world number three Jessica Pegula on Wednesday.

Osaka broke her opponent twice in the opening set but Samsonova held her serve in the second before winning a tie break, winning the final four points.

Both exchanged breaks in the final set before the Russian 26-year-old broke a second time, putting her on track for victory.

Osaka’s defeat is the latest setback in the former world number one’s comeback since returning from maternity leave last year.

Osaka was also defeated in the first round of the French Open.

This is the fourth meeting between the two since Osaka returned to the circuit at the beginning of 2024, with the ledger standing at two wins each.

One of the oldest women’s tournaments in the world, the Berlin Open switched from clay to grass courts in 2021 and has since become a popular warm-up event for Wimbledon, which starts at the end of the month.

Later on Tuesday, world number four Qinwen Zheng faces 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.

The top four seeds at the tournament, including French Open finalists Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, along with Pegula and Jasmine Paolini, all enter at the last 16 stage on Wednesday.

OKLAHOMA CITY: Jalen Williams scored a career playoff-high 40 points, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 and the Oklahoma City Thunder moved one win from a title by beating the Indiana Pacers 120-109 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.

It was the 10th — and by far, the biggest — time the Thunder stars combined for more than 70 points in a game. Williams was 14 of 24 from the field, and Gilgeous-Alexander added 10 assists.

Pascal Siakam had 28 points for Indiana, who now trail the series 3-2 and will host Game 6 on Thursday night. TJ McConnell added 18 for the Pacers, who whittled an 18-point deficit down to two in the fourth — then watched the Thunder pull away again, and for good.

“That’s a really good team over there,” Williams said. “You just don’t trip into the finals.”

True. But now, everything favors the Thunder.

Teams that win Game 5 of an NBA Finals that was tied at 2-2 have gone on to win the series 23 times in 31 previous opportunities, or 74 percent. And teams with a 3-2 lead in the finals have won 40 times in 49 previous opportunities, or 82 percent.

But Game 5 was not easy. Far from it.

Down by 18 late in the second quarter, the Pacers — the comeback kings of these playoffs, with as many wins in this postseason from 15 points down or more (five) than the rest of the league has combined, including in Game 1 of this series — did what they do, chipping away. And they did it with Tyrese Haliburton reduced to basically playing decoy on offense because of a leg issue that he aggravated in the first quarter.

Led by McConnell, who scored 13 points in just under seven minutes of the third, the Pacers got within five late in that quarter.

Then, Siakam went to work — a pair of free throws with 9:19 left got Indiana within four, then a 3-pointer about a minute later made it 95-93. In the play-by-play era of the NBA, starting with the 1997 playoffs, teams with leads of 15 points or more in the finals were 80-9.

Make that 81-9 now, and the Thunder are one win away.

“That was honestly the same exact game as Game 1,” Williams said. “Learning through these finals, that’s what makes a team good.”

One more win, and his team will be certified as great.