First tears in your eyes, then a towel over your head, tennis fans of Naomi Osaka have seen pictures like this more often.

It often does not bode well when the Japanese woman is so overwhelmed by her emotions;

for example three weeks ago at the tournament in Indian Wells, California, when she was bullied by a spectator ("Naomi, you're annoying") and first lost her composure and then her second round match.

Thomas Klemm

sports editor.

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However, when Osaka hid his wet eyes under a towel late Thursday evening German time, it was a sign of pure relief.

The 24-year-old had defied all odds in the semifinals of the Masters tournament in Miami against the Swiss Belinda Bencic and won 4: 6, 6: 3 and 6: 4.

In the final this Saturday, she meets the Pole Iga Swiatek, who has been unbeaten for 16 matches and will take over the top of the WTA world rankings after Ashleigh Barty resigned on Monday.

It will be Osaka's first appearance in a final since winning her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in February last year.

She had to fight for a while - "not necessarily physically," as the Japanese said in an interview after the match.

She hasn't been able to bring many things together for a long time, but now she feels satisfied to have fought her way back.

Mental problems in particular since spring 2021 had bothered Osaka as one of the few superstars in women's tennis.

Temporarily world number one, she crashed.

She is currently only in 77th place, but will be among the top 40 again after reaching the final in Miami on Monday.

On the other hand, Daniil Medvedev failed to take a step back and forward.

After his 6: 7, 3: 6 defeat in the quarterfinals against the Polish defending champion Hubert Hurkacz, the Russian will not oust Novak Djokovic from the top ATP position again like he did at the end of February.

Medvedev had already been eliminated two weeks earlier in Indian Wells.