Montreal, August 6 (H.S.): Former World No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka secured her spot in the semifinals of the Canadian Open on Tuesday night. She continued her impressive performance in the tournament by defeating 10th seed Elina Svitolina convincingly with a score of 6-2, 6-2.

In the semifinals, Osaka will face 16th seed Clara Tauson, who caused a surprise by defeating 6th seed Madison Keys 6-1, 6-4 in the first quarterfinal of the day.

Osaka, who reached a WTA 1000 semifinal for the first time since the Miami Open final in 2022, returned to tennis in 2023 after a 15-month break for the birth of her daughter Shai. She is aiming for her eighth career title and her first title since the 2021 Australian Open.

Meanwhile, in another semifinal to be played on Wednesday, Canada's 18-year-old Victoria Mboko will compete against ninth seed Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan). Mboko, who is playing in the main draw of the National Bank Open for the first time, will break into the top 50 rankings due to her impressive performance in the tournament. She has defeated five higher-seeded players, including top seed Coco Gauff.

Clara Tauson dedicated her victory to her grandfather Peter. She became emotional on the court after the match, saying, I wanted to win for him today. He always encouraged me, helped me play tennis, and would take me to practice every day after school.

The 22-year-old Danish player shared that she received the news of her grandfather's passing on Monday morning, just one day after defeating Wimbledon champion and World No. 3 Iga Swiatek in straight sets.

Tauson has not dropped a single set in the tournament so far.

Keys' Mistakes in the Match

Australian Open 2025 champion Madison Keys missed two break points at the beginning of the match, after which Tauson won the first set by taking five consecutive games. Keys acknowledged that her performance was not up to expectation.

She said, Today was not my day. She played amazing tennis and served excellently. I kept trying different strategies, but she kept answering everything.

Semifinal Matchups:

Naomi Osaka vs. Clara Tauson

Victoria Mboko vs. Elena Rybakina

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar