Naomi Osaka's eyes welled with tears when her match ended, an all-too-familiar scene for her in recent years. These were of the happy variety. For the former world No 1, that's major progress. (More Tennis News)
The unseeded Osaka defeated No.22 Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday in the Miami Open 2022 semifinals. She바카라s in a championship match for the first time since the 2021 Australian Open, and will meet No 2 Iga Swiatek on Saturday. Swiatek defeated Jessica Pegula in the other semifinal.
바카라Damn, I'm almost crying,바카라 Osaka said. Maybe not even almost. She hid her face in an orange towel a few times right after the match ended, at least one tear clearly making its way down her right cheek.
Osaka entered this tournament ranked No 77 in the world, will leave Miami no worse than 36th and would be back in the top 30 if she wins the title. It has been a long, trying and often emotional ride for Osaka since her win in the 2018 US Open final over Serena Williams.
She was rattled during a loss at Indian Wells on March 12 following a derogatory shout from a spectator, withdrew from last year's French Open to address her mental state and left last year's US Open in tears.
But in South Florida, one of the places she considers home, it's been all support from the fans. 바카라From the bottom of my heart, thank you,바카라 Osaka told them in her on-court interview.
Pegula and Swiatek 바카라 who will replace the now-retired Ashleigh Barty as the No 1-ranked women's player in the world next week 바카라 were meeting in the other women's semifinal on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev came into the tournament as the No 2-ranked men's player in the world. Hubert Hurkacz ensured he will stay there. Hurkacz 바카라 the No 8 seed and defending Miami champion 바카라 wore down the top-seeded and cramp-riddled Medvedev 7-6 (7) 6-3 on Thursday in a men's quarterfinal.
바카라Every muscle just went cramp, cramp, cramp, cramp,바카라 Medvedev said.
Had Medvedev prevailed, he would have overtaken Novak Djokovic on Monday and returned to No 1 in the world rankings. Instead, the Russian will stay No 2 in the world and find out who wins the Miami title on Sunday like everyone else.
바카라For me, it was more important in a way just to win the match itself than to become No 1,바카라 Medvedev said. 바카라Winning the match, I saw it more as a bonus.바카라
Hurkacz, who is from Poland, will next meet No 14 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the semifinals. Alcaraz defeated unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5) on Thursday night in the last men's quarterfinal.
바카라I was returning pretty well, I was putting some pressure on his serves and that was helping my game,바카라 Hurkacz said. 바카라I was able to get some free points on my serve and that was pretty big.바카라
The other semifinal pits sixth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway against unseeded Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
Hurkacz has played Medvedev four times, and Medvedev has been ranked No 2 in the world in each of those meetings 바카라 which they've now split. Hurkacz improved to 14-5 this year, and his record in Miami is 12-1 all-time. 바카라Coming here is so much fun,바카라 Hurkacz said.
