The end of the season continues to take its toll, with Naomi Osaka pulling out of the WTA 500 Kinoshita Group Japan Open quarter-finals with an injury, and sending Jacqueline Cristian through to the Last 4 on Friday.
When I was able to break back in the first set, that gave me momentum going into the tiebreaker. In the second set, she started strong and I knew it was going to happen, but I’m glad I stayed positive and continued putting pressure on her while enjoying the battle. Leylah Fernandez
It will be Cristian’s 3rd semi-final appearance of the year, and her first on a surface other than clay.
Top-seeded Osaka failed to recover from a leg injury sustained in Wednesday’s 2nd-round match against Suzan Lamens, the defending champion from the Netherlands.
The former World No 1, who turned 28 this week, was tearful after struggling through her Last 16 match against Lamens, paying a visit to the hospital afterwards on her birthday.
“We regret to announce that Naomi Osaka has not recovered from a left leg injury sustained during the second round of this tournament and has withdrawn from the quarter-finals scheduled for today,” the tournament said on X.
Osaka finished her 3-set defeat of Lamens with heavy strapping on her left thigh, and said afterwards that only painkillers had helped her get through the match.
Her exit leaves Leylah Fernandez, the Canadian 4th seed, as the highest-seed left standing in the draw, while Osaka, who is scheduled to play the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific in Tokyo next week, will remain at No 16 in the PIF WTA Rankings when the new listings are released next week.
Cristian will face teenage qualifier Tereza Valentova, after the Czech 18-year old upset the No 6 seed Olga Danilovic from Serbia, 4-6 6-2 6-3.
Valentova came from a set down to record her third career Top 50 win, all coming this year, while she has now reached the semi-finals in 2 of her first 4 tour-level main draws, following her run in Prague in July.
In the other two, she had reached the 2nd-round of Roland Garros and the US Open as a qualifier.
Leylah Fernandez, the last seed standing at the Japan Open, reached the semi-final with a straight sets win over Rebecca Sramkova on Friday
© Paul Miller/AFP via Getty Images
Meanwhile, Fernandez had to battle back twice to defeat Rebecca Sramkova from Slovakia and reach the Osaka semi-finals.
Having seen the top 3 seeds exit the tournament, Fernandez was determined not to follow suit on Friday in Osaka, as the Canadian came from a break down in both sets to battle past Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova, 7-6(2) 6-3, in an hour and 34 minutes to advance to the semi-finals.
The 4th seed trailed by a break late in the first set, but broke back to force a tiebreak, which she won decisively, before falling behind again early in the second, down 0-2, but responded by winning 4 straight games to take control.
“When I was able to break back in the first set, that gave me momentum going into the tiebreaker,” Fernandez said after the match. “In the second set, she started strong and I knew it was going to happen, but I’m glad I stayed positive and continued putting pressure on her while enjoying the battle.”
Fernandez won just 3 more points than Sramkova, 52 to 49, with both refusing to give up many on serve, especially in the first set.
The 22-year old Canadian saved a break point in the opening game, and didn’t face another until 5-5, and although she was broken then, she immediately broke back to force the tiebreak, where she came from a mini-break down to win it and further showcased her left-handed serving prowess.
She landed 68% of her first serves and won 67% of those points in the first set, while she also won 54% of second-serve points and faced only 2 break points.
She went on to face only one more break point in the second set.
Sramkova placed 53% of her first serves in the first set, winning 72% of those points and 50% on her second delivery.
Fernandez now holds a 23-3 record this season when winning the first set, closing out 21 of those wins in straight sets, one of which came against Sramkova in Mexico in August.
On Friday, Sramkova again threatened a come-back, saving 3 match points while trailing 5-3 in the second set, but Fernandez sealed the win with one final break.
For a place in Sunday’s final, Fernandez will have to get past Sorana Cirstea from Romania, who is enjoying a rich run of form in Osaka this week.
Cirstea, who dispatched Britain’s Katie Boulter in the 2nd-round on Wednesday, improved to 2-0 against Viktorija Golubic from Switzerland, with a 6-2 2-6 6-2 win in the the quarter-finals, advancing to her 3rd tour-level semi-final of 2025 as a result.
AloJapan.com