Serena Williams is set to take on Naomi Osaka in the 2021 Australian Open Semifinals.
The 39-year-old tennis star won against Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday. According to Sports Illustrated, she will return to Melbourne Park for the first time since she won the tournament in 2017. “I just realized I was making a lot of unforced errors in those games that I lost. And I knew that I had an opportunity to play better,” said Williams of her games. “So I was just like, ‘Just stay in there. You just can keep going.’ And that’s what I just did.” Halep is ranked second in the world and Williams is ranked No. 10 among female players.
Osaka, 23, defeated Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, pushing her forward to the women’s singles semifinals. Williams and Osaka will face off to see who makes it to the women’s finals.
“I always watch Serena’s matches anyways,” Osaka told reporters after she beat Su-wei Tuesday. “Normally I never look at my draw, but everyone’s told me about my draw here so I kind of had no choice but to know who my next opponent is. But [it’s] definitely going to be really fun.”
Osaka and Williams have played against one another several times, Yahoo! News reports. In 2018, Osaka beat Williams in the first round of the 2018 Miami Open, but in 2019, Williams beat Osaka at the 2019 Rogers Cup.
We wish these ladies nothing but blessings in their upcoming games! #BlackGirlMagic
"I always watch Serena's matches anyways."
Same, @naomiosaka 🙃#AusOpen | #AO2021 pic.twitter.com/1mY9xDnuIz
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 16, 2021
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