Osaka survived two brief rain interruptions during the match before closing out rising American Baptiste after 2 hours and 2 minutes of play.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Japanese sailed into her first tour-level semifinal since she returned from maternity leave 12 months ago. The last time she made the final four or better at a WTA event was her runner-up finish at 2022 Miami, where she lost to Iga Swiatek. She made two quarterfinals last year (Doha and 's-Hertogenbosch).<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I think the key focuses that I had were just to have a lot of belief and confidence in myself. I think I put a lot of work in throughout last year, and even though the results didn\u2019t show it, I think I'm just continuing to, I guess, try as hard as I can and see where it gets me,\" Osaka said on court after her win.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Osaka was forced to pull off a comeback to hold off 23-year-old Baptiste, who was playing her first career WTA quarterfinal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"Baptiste is an amazing player. It sucks that she was injured, but I think we played a really high-quality match, and in a weird way I\u2019m glad to have played a three-set match because I think that\u2019s kind of the experience I need,\" Osaka said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Both players had 10 unforced errors in the first set, but Baptiste had 17 winners to Osaka's five in that timeframe, including an ace to convert a set point in the tiebreak, according to WTA.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Osaka turned the match around in the second set, in which she broke Baptiste's serve three times. After that set, Baptiste had a medical time-out on her foot and could not find her way back into the match.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Both players had 10 unforced errors in the first set, but Baptiste had 17 winners to Osaka's five in that timeframe, including an ace to convert a set point in the tiebreak, according to WTA.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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