Former world number one Naomi Osaka passed her toughest test yet at the ASB Classic, defeating American Hailey Baptiste 5-7 6-1 6-2 on centre court. Osaka now moves on to the semi-finals on Saturday, where she'll meet the winner of tonight's all-American quarter-final between Katie Volynets and Alycia Parks. While the second and third sets appear to be straight forward on the scoresheet, it's important to note Baptiste's fighting spirit.
On Thursday night she played a marathon second round match to beat Jodie Burrage 5-7 7-5 7(8)-6, before backing up today. While her big serve yielded seven aces and she broke Osaka early to win the first set, it was clear that the time on court was catching up with her. "I'm really proud, even though it was a three set match I was able to pull through in the end," Osaka said post-match.
Baptiste called a lengthy medical timeout to strap her foot in the second set, and from there Osaka managed to put the hammer down and close out the match. She did it just in time too - as the players left the court the heavens opened for a heavy downpour. In typical Auckland fashion, it'd been brilliantly sunny just moments before.
"It sucks to be injured in the first tournament of the year...
obviously when someone calls a trainer then you do kinda think in the back of your mind they're struggling," said Osaka about her opponents' issues. "I'm really sorry to say but I preferred her to play a longer match (last night) than a shorter one. I knew it'd be to my .
