Australian Open 2019: Naomi Osaka beats Elina Svitolina to reach semi-finals

  • Posted: Jan 23, 2019
Australian Open 2019
Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-27 January
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Naomi Osaka dominated Elina Svitolina to win in straight sets and reach the Australian Open semi-finals.

The Japanese US Open champion had too much firepower for Svitolina, triumphing 6-4 6-1 in Melbourne.

Osaka, 21, hit 31 winners and took advantage of the second serve of the Ukrainian, who received treatment on her shoulder in the second set.

The fourth seed will face either Serena Williams or Karolina Pliskova in the last four on Thursday.

Svitolina, the sixth seed, is still to go beyond the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam.

“I tried to be consistent or as consistent as I can be. She’s really good but unfortunately she was injured. But playing against her injured was really tough,” said Osaka.

“For me, today, I had one goal – it was to try as hard as I can and not get angry.

“I didn’t do that well in the past two rounds, but I played well today.”

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Osaka announced herself on the world stage with her hugely impressive victory over Williams in September’s US Open final, although her achievement was overshadowed by the American’s outburst at umpire Carlos Ramos.

She has the chance to become world number one after this tournament and looked a class apart against Svitolina, who was affected by the shoulder problem which needed treatment during her third-round match.

There was no sign of an issue in the first five games as both players held serve, but the final five games of the first set were all breaks with Osaka striking the decisive blow when Svitolina netted a backhand.

The second set was much more straightforward, once a lucky net cord gave Osaka the first break in the second game.

Svitolina received treatment at the changeover when 3-0 down but to no noticeable effect and Osaka feasted on her weak second serve, winning 16 of 22 points on it.

The Ukrainian managed to halt a run of six games in a row for Osaka but a smashed winner sealed victory in one hour and 12 minutes.

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