Osaka reaches Indian Wells final

Defeating world No. 1 Simona Halep in the semis, Osaka won 6-3, 6-0. ‘It was tough to play, because the ball was really moving. “I was just also just trying to pump myself up more, to get energy for me”.

Japanese dynamo Naomi Osaka punched her ticket to the Indian Wells final on Friday, routing world No. 1 Simona Halep to set up a title clash with rising star Daria Kasatkina. Her world ranking is expected to climb from No. 44 to No. 22 on Monday.

Halep blasted two aces and broke Martic’s serve four times.

Williams said she remembers the Wimbledon contest but couldn’t recall losing to her in New Zealand.

Venus fought hard to avoid defeat, clinching a first set that featured no less than seven breaks of serve – four to her and three to her opponent – but she simply couldn’t shake Kasatkina in the remaining two sets.

What has impressed a lot this week is the mental fortitude we have seen from both of them, Kasatkina in particular did not panic in what was a thriller of a semi-final against Williams, and held her nerve to close out a fantastic win that did leave her very emotional on the court. I was just, like, Aaaaah, okay, that was pretty nice.

“It’s one of the best nights in my life, for sure”. She did it for the second time at Indian Wells, winning their third round match 6-4, 6-3. I really feel like I have another match I have to play tomorrow, and it didn’t really sink in that I won.

“It wasn’t easy”, said Osaka, who improved to 14-4 in 2018.

Canada’s Milos Raonic returned to form to reach the men’s semi-finals.

“It feels a little bit lonely, because there’s, like, nobody here”.

“[Venus] was playing really good, honestly”.

That game proved to be extremely crucial as it was match-changing, especially when Kasatkina followed it up with six unforced errors on the forehand wing.

‘I just battling all the way, even in serving and returning. Since her first ever title is a Premier Mandatory, she is definitely on the right track.

No stranger to battling for almost three hours on court, Kasatkina apologised ahead of her press conference that she might not be able to string sentences together after such a huge win over Williams. Neither player has won before at Indian Wells.

“We are same age, first of all”, Kasatkina said.

“I can not believe I won this tournament, beating Roger in a great final and level of tennis”, Del Potro said. Kasatkina is the current world No. 19 on the WTA Tour.

‘I’m number one at the moment but I just watched the best player in the world, Halep said.

Osaka and Romania’s Halep met in the semifinals of the tournament, also known as the BNP Paribas Open, in the U.S. state of California on Friday.