Japan’s Naomi Osaka produced another explosive performance to beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich and reach the Pan Pacific Open semi-finals on Friday. The third set was also a close one as it took until the fourth match point for Wozniacki to seal her place in Sunday’s final.
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Osaka, born of a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, will face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the last four after her shock three-set victory over top seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain. “By then it was already 5-0 so I was just going through the motions”. Sasnovich, to her credit, forced a tiebreaker, but the big-swinging Japanese survived what ended up being a battle of inconsistency to take the breaker and the match. “I was just focusing on playing more than actually looking at the score”.
The 18-year-old Osaka, ranked 66th in the world, will next face the victor of the late quarterfinal between top-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain and Ukraine’s unseeded Elina Svitolina for a place in Sunday’s final.
“Right now I’m not really thinking about it (the semifinal)”, said Osaka, who is bidding to become the tournament’s first Japanese victor since Kimiko Date-Krumm in 1995.
Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska faced Olympics gold medallist Monica Puig, who had knocked out the 2-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
World No.28 Wozniacki reached the final after defeating the Polish second seed Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 after almost three hours, reports Efe. It was a sloppy match from fourth-ranked Radwanska, who committed 43 unforced errors in the match. “Of course I was serving very good today and that helped me a lot, that’s for sure. Hopefully, I can serve just as well against her”.
Radwanska will face Wozniacki after the Dane beat Polish qualifier Magda Linette 6-4, 6-3.
Osaka could not hold the momentum, however, as she went behind 5-0 in the second, having a very public meltdown as she sprayed the ball to all corners in her attempt to overpower her slight 22-year-old opponent.
Over nine years, Wozniacki has an 8-4 record against Radwanska, and won their last three matchups.
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Wozniacki is coming off a semifinal appearance at the U.S. Open earlier in September.
