Naomi Osaka visibly emotional after victory over Belinda Bencic to reach Miami Open final

Former world number one Naomi Osaka has reached a championship match for the first time since the 2021 Australian Open. 

Osaka's eyes welled with tears when her match against Belinda Bencic ended, an all-too-familiar scene for her in recent years.

Only this time these were tears of the happy variety.

The unseeded Osaka defeated number 22 Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday in the Miami Open semi-finals.

Osaka will meet either meet world number 16 Jessica Pegula or number two Iga Swiatek on Saturday.

«Damn, I'm almost crying,» Osaka said.

Perhaps more than almost.

Osaka hid her face in an orange towel a few times right after the match ended, at least one tear clearly making its way down her right cheek.

Osaka entered the tournament ranked number 77 in the world, but will leave Miami no worse than 36th and would be back in the top 30 if she wins the title.

Even though this year is shaping up to be yet another wild ride, I still didn’t have Ash Barty joining the Great Resignation on my 2022 bingo card.

It has been a long, trying and often emotional ride for Osaka since her win in the 2018 US Open final over Serena Williams.

She was rattled during a loss at Indian Wells on March 12 following a derogatory comment from a spectator, withdrew from last year's French Open for the benefit of her mental health and left last year's US Open in tears.

But in South Florida, one of the places she considers home, it has been all support from the fans.

«From the bottom of my heart, thank you,» Osaka told them in her on-court interview.

Pegula and Swiatek, who will replace the now-retired Ash Barty as the top-ranked women's player in the world next week, meet in the other women's semi-final on Thursday.

AAP