US Open winner Naomi Osaka (Japan) failed in the semi-final of Beijing against Anastasija Sevastova. The Latvian reached her first final at a Premier Mandatory tournament.
After almost 1:32 hours a return mistake of Osaka sealed the 6:4, 6:4 victory of the world rankings-20th Sevastova at the National Tennis Stadium. Her Austrian coach and partner Ronald Schmidt captured the special moment with a photo. His girlfriend will climb up to 12th place in the new WTA ranking.
“I knew I had to be aggressive and focused because Naomi is a great player,” said New York semi-finalist Sevastova after her first appearance in a second-highest category event. The 28-year-old will now play either against Australian Open Champion mare Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark/Nr. 2) or Wildcard owner Qiang Wang from China after her fourth individual title on the WTA Tour on Sunday.
Sevastova won the tournament in Bucharest this year. If she also succeeds in winning the China Open, the Latvian, who had already finished her career in 2013 due to back problems, would be rewarded with a prize of 1.525 million dollars and 1000 points for the world rankings.
Osaka, on the other hand, was clearly marked by the stresses and strains of the past few weeks, which were undermined by 42 Unforced Errors. One day after the 2:33-hour quarter-final against her good friend Zhang Shuai (China), the 20-year-old had physical problems. At the behest of her German coach, Sascha Bajin, the newly crowned Grand Slam winner had her lower back treated by the brought-in physiotherapist at the score of 3:4 in the second set.
It was no use anymore. Sevastova, who defended three of four break points, remained cool and made the success perfect. With the sixth ace (a total of nine) she had taken the first set after about 46 minutes.