Serena Williams has said that experience helped her beat Naomi Osaka last night as she made the semi-finals at the Rogers Cup.
The 23 time grand slam champion had lost to Osaka in both of their previous encounters before last night but overcame those demons to make the last four in Toronto.
A convincing display saw Serena hit 12 aces as she blasted past the new world number one 6-3 6-4 in 76 minutes to reach the semi-finals.
After the match, the 37 year-old said that experience had helped her prepare better for the match against the Japanese player, “I knew her game a little bit more, so that’s a little easier,” Serena admitted in her press conference.
“And, you know, I’m just overall a little bit better. I watch her a lot. And I was just… I know what I need to do to hopefully try to get a win today, and it helped a little bit.”
This result means that this is Serena’s best non-slam result since coming back to the tour last March and is now considered the favourite to win the title this week.
Next for Serena is 21 year-old Czech Qualifier Marie Bouzkova, who won the first set against Simona Halep before the Wimbledon champion retired due to an ankle injury.
It’s another situation for Serena, where she is playing someone who idolises her as Bouzkova told the WTA website after the match, “Serena has been my role model growing up,” Bouzkova said.
“The way I play, you know, my technique, you know, is little bit — you know, the backhand is little bit similar to hers. I’m just going to try to enjoy as much as I can tomorrow and put up a fight.”
While Serena prepares for another WTA semi-fianl, Naomi Osaka will leave Toronto with good momentum having reclaimed the world number one ranking.
This will be a relief for the two time grand slam champion as she prepares for her US Open title defence later this month.
