Osaka reached her first-ever Australian Open final after surviving a stern test against 13th seed Anastasija Sevastova in the women’s singles fourth round match on Monday. The Japanese superstar came back from behind after being a set down to beat Sevastova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Osaka may not have been on top gear but she found ways to get the job done against Sevastova. Notably, she had to overcome a similar situation in her third-round match as she had stormed back after being a set down against Su-Wei Hsieh.
Revealing that she was inspired after seeing her mates from the “Kids Club” at Australian do well, Osaka said she was happy about the fact that she didn’t give up after conceding the first set against Sevastova.
“I think just the fact that I didn’t give up [is the thing I am most happy about]. She was playing really well… I wasn’t really sure what to do at one point but I just tried to be in the game,” Osaka said during an on-court interview on Monday.
“I was thinking… ‘I have been in this position before. Actually, the last time was a bit worse. Also, I have been watching all these kids… when Tsitsipas beat [Roger] Federer. I was like ‘wow’. I also decided I wanted to do well too.
Leave a Reply