Tennis: Osaka sets up title clash with Daria

aINDIAN WELLS, United States: Japanese dynamo Naomi Osaka punched her ticket to the Indian Wells final on Friday, routing world No. 1 Simona Halep to set up a title clash with rising star Daria Kasatkina.

World No. 44 Osaka stormed past the top seeded Halep in stunning fashion with a 6-3, 6-0 win, while Russian juggernaut Kasatkina wore down the 37-year-old seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

The 26-year-old former champion Halep dropped to 18-2 on the season as she lasted just 64 minutes on the court with Osaka.

Youth prevailed Friday night as both unseeded Osaka and world No. 19 Kasatkina are 20 years old while the combined age of Williams and Halep is 63.

“I feel like there is a new generation and we are trying to push through,” said Osaka, who clinched the contest on the third match point.

Osaka improved to 14-4 in 2018 as she came into the clash as the lowest ranked Indian Wells semi-finalist since Kim Clijsters in 2005.

Halep had three double faults, won just five points on her second serve and had her serve broken five times.

Halep, who had reached the semi-finals in all four of her tournaments in 2018, was trying to repeat her Indian Wells success of three years ago when she beat Jelena Jankovic to lift the trophy.

Meanwhile, Kasatkina rolled over her third top-10 player in a row to reach her first Indian Wells final. Kasatkina rallied to claim the biggest victory of her career and defeat world number eight Williams, extending a year-long assault on top players, Grand Slam winners and former world number ones.

Serving for the match, Kasatkina clinched the victory on her second match point as she raced out to a 40-0 lead. Williams hit a cross-court forehand winner on the first match point but then dumped a backhand into the net to end the two hour, 49 minute marathon showdown. Ultimately the young Russian proved to be too strong for Williams, who appeared to hit a wall at about the two and a half hour mark.

Kasatkina fired one ace, hit five double faults and broke Williams’s serve seven times in the entertaining match.

Williams had almost double the number of unforced errors, 63-45, and broke Kasatkina six times but she also made five double faults — some at crucial moments in the match.

Kasatkina continues her Cinderella run through the California desert tournament as she goes for her second WTA title.

Kasatkina has beaten all four reigning Grand Slam champions in the past year, including US Open champ Sloane Stephens twice. She did it for the second time at Indian Wells, winning their third round match 6-4, 6-3.

After eliminating Stephens she beat two top 10 players to get to the semis — world number two Caroline Wozniacki in three sets in the fourth round and then No. 10 Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the quarters.

Raonic books semi-final showdown with Del Potro: Milos Raonic, coming off an injury-riddled 2017, booked a semi-final clash with comeback king Juan Martin Del Potro at the ATP Tour’s Indian Wells Masters on Friday.

The 27-year-old Raonic defeated American Sam Querrey 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 to pick up just his fourth match win of the season and is seeking to capture his ninth career ATP Tour title.

He’ll be up against the eighth-ranked player in the world in Argentina’s Del Potro, who beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the day’s other quarter-final.

Raonic lost in the final of this event in 2016 and has now made it to the semi-finals in his last three appearances.

Raonic didn’t play in Indian Wells last year because of a string of injuries and surgeries that decimated his season.

The list of things that have put him in the infirmary in the past year is lengthy and might have sent another person into permanent retirement.

Del Potro can certainly sympathize with Raonic. For Del Potro, reaching the semis is another feather in the cap of his comeback from injuries as he is back in the top 10 for the first time since 2014.

Former US Open champ Del Potro stepped up his bid for a second straight tournament victory with his over two hour quarter-final win.