Naomi Osaka rallies, tops Bencic to make Miami Open girls’s remaining

Naomi Osaka’s eyes welled with tears when her match ended, an all-too-familiar scene for her lately.

These had been of the blissful selection.

For the previous world No. 1, that’s main progress.

The unseeded Osaka defeated No. 22 Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday within the Miami Open semifinals. She’s in a championship match for the primary time because the 2021 Australian Open, and can meet both No. 16 Jessica Pegula or No. 2 Iga Swiatek on Saturday.

“Damn, I’m almost crying,” Osaka mentioned.

Maybe not even nearly. She hid her face in an orange towel just a few occasions proper after the match ended, at the least one tear clearly making its approach down her proper cheek. Osaka entered this event ranked No. 77 on this planet, will go away Miami no worse than thirty sixth and could be again within the high 30 if she wins the title.

It has been a protracted, attempting and sometimes emotional experience for Osaka since her win within the 2018 US Open remaining over Serena Williams. She was rattled throughout a loss at Indian Wells on March 12 following a derogatory shout from a spectator, withdrew from final yr’s French Open to deal with her psychological state and left final yr’s US Open in tears.

But in South Florida, one of many locations she considers residence, it’s been all help from the followers.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Osaka instructed them in her on-court interview.

Pegula and Swiatek who will substitute the now-retired Ashleigh Barty because the No. 1-ranked girls’s participant on this planet subsequent week had been assembly within the different girls’s semifinal on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev got here into the event because the No. 2-ranked males’s participant on this planet. Hubert Hurkacz ensured he’ll keep there.

Hurkacz the No. 8 seed and defending Miami champion wore down the top-seeded and cramp-riddled Medvedev 7-6 (7), 6-3 on Thursday in a males’s quarterfinal.

“Every muscle just went `cramp, cramp, cramp, cramp,’” Medvedev mentioned.

Had Medvedev prevailed, he would have overtaken Novak Djokovic on Monday and returned to No. 1 on this planet rankings. Instead, the Russian will keep No. 2 on this planet and discover out who wins the Miami title on Sunday like everybody else.

“For me, it was more important in a way just to win the match itself than to become No. 1,” Medvedev mentioned. “Winning the match, I saw it more as a bonus.”

Hurkacz, who’s from Poland, will subsequent meet No. 14 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain within the semifinals. Alcaraz defeated unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5) on Thursday evening within the final males’s quarterfinal.

“I was returning pretty well, I was putting some pressure on his serves and that was helping my game,” Hurkacz mentioned. “I was able to get some free points on my serve and that was pretty big.”

The different semifinal pits sixth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway in opposition to unseeded Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.

Hurkacz has performed Medvedev 4 occasions, and Medvedev has been ranked No. 2 on this planet in every of these conferences which they’ve now break up. Hurkacz improved to 14-5 this yr, and his report in Miami is 12-1 all-time.

“Coming here is so much fun,” Hurkacz mentioned.