Naomi Osaka explains why she feels 'really emotional' facing stars her age

Naomi Osaka has opened up on the emotion she feels facing players her age and younger ahead of her semi-final clash with Belinda Bencic. The former world No 1 has enjoyed a successful week in Miami, beating the likes of 13th seed Angie Kerber and ninth seed Danielle Collins en route to the last four.

Osaka has looked like her old, Grand Slam-winning self this week in Miami after a difficult few months. The current world No 77 lost early at the US Open to Leylah Annie Fernandez last September when she was the defending champion and took an indefinite break from tennis.

She was back in Australia but lost in the third round again as the defending champion, this time to Amanda Anisimova, with her ranking plummeting outside of the top 80. Osaka started to find her groove in her Indian Wells opener but lost in round two as she was left in tears by a heckler.

Now into the Miami semi-finals to face old rival Belinda Bencic, the four-time Major champion has opened up on the "emotion" she feels playing competitors who are younger than her, like her Grand Slam conquerors Anisimova and Fernandez. "When I was younger I never played anyone my age. I always played, like if I was 10, I'd play the 18s or something like that. My dad always thought that it was better to play the older people," the 24-year-old explained after her win over Aussie Open finalist Collins.

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"I think it worked out really good for me, because I used to play like older girls or when I was 12 I used to play like the woman's circuit. It's not the pro circuit but kind of like professional-ish people, that, maybe they want to practice before they play a 25K, that type of circuit." Osaka will