A method for synchronization in a network node is disclosed. The method comprises determining an N-symbol slice of a received signal, the N-symbol slice corresponding to a sync point hypothesis, dividing the N-symbol slice into one or more segments, each of the one or more segments having the same symbol length, and determining one or more phase rotation operators for each of the one or more segments, the determined one or more phase rotation operators compensating for a phase rotation introduced by an initial frequency error. The method further comprises performing coherent correlation within each of the one or more segments using the determined one or more phase rotation operators, and performing differentially coherent correlation on each of the one or more segments.