{"id":97354,"date":"2025-08-07T15:17:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T15:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/osaka-sails-into-canadian-open-semis-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T15:17:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T15:17:25","slug":"osaka-sails-into-canadian-open-semis-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/osaka-sails-into-canadian-open-semis-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Osaka sails into Canadian Open semis | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n TORONTO:<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka reached the semi-finals of the Canadian Open for the first time after beating Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-2 6-2 in the quarters on Tuesday, while Ben Shelton eliminated Alex de Minaur on the men’s side.<\/p>\n

It marks Osaka’s first WTA 1000 semi-final since Miami in 2022, as the Japanese former world number one needed just over an hour to secure victory over the 10th seeded Svitolina.<\/p>\n

Osaka capitalised on Svitolina’s unforced errors to break twice and move within a game of taking the first set. Despite dropping serve while Svitolina threatened to shift the momentum, Osaka held her nerve, broke back and closed out the opener.<\/p>\n

The second set was more closely contested, but Osaka converted two more break points to seal the win in Montreal.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old will next face Danish 16th seed Clara Tauson, who secured her second consecutive win over a top 10 opponent by defeating American sixth seed Madison Keys 6-1 6-4 to reach the semis having previously beaten six-times major winner Iga Swiatek.<\/p>\n

“I think for me, I’m just having a lot of fun playing and I’m really glad to be here,” Osaka said.<\/p>\n

“She’s (Tauson) really tough. I played her in Auckland this year and I had to stop halfway because I was injured. So, I’m really excited that I’m healthy and I hope that it’s a good match for everyone that comes and watches.”<\/p>\n

Tauson was clinical in the opening set against Keys, converting both of her break point opportunities and serving it out in just over half an hour.<\/p>\n

Australian Open champion Keys dropped serve again early in the second, leaving the 22-year-old Tauson on course for just the second WTA 1000 semi of her career.<\/p>\n

In the men’s tournament in Toronto, American second seed Taylor Fritz advanced to the semis with a 6-3 7-6(4) victory over Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev.<\/p>\n

Wimbledon semi-finalist Fritz got off to a blistering start, winning six straight points and breaking his opponent’s serve in his first return game.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old maintained his momentum behind a dominant service performance and appeared poised to close out the match while serving at 5-4 in the second set.<\/p>\n

Rublev, however, mounted a comeback, saving a match point and converting his fourth break point to level the set before forcing a tiebreak, where Fritz finally secured the win.<\/p>\n

“That whole game was so shaky for me,” Fritz said.<\/p>\n

“It’s weird because he was holding easy, I was holding easy. It felt so like calm and chill and all of a sudden I’m serving to be in the semis, the pressure of the game came out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it, it was a tight game. My brain kind of turned off. The only thing you can do is come back and win the set. I would be a lot more upset about what happened in the game if I lose the match. Winning makes it feel not as bad.”<\/p>\n

Next up for Fritz is compatriot and fourth seed Shelton, who beat Australian ninth seed De Minaur 6-3 6-4 to reach his first career Masters 1000 semi-final.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO: Four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka reached the semi-finals of the Canadian Open for the first time after beating Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-2 6-2 in the quarters on Tuesday, while Ben Shelton eliminated Alex de Minaur on the men’s side. It marks Osaka’s first WTA 1000 semi-final since Miami in 2022, as the Japanese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/pg13-lead1754536489-0\/pg13-lead1754536489-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t