Naomi Osaka will lock horns with Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Western and Southern Open after the fourth seed from Japan defeated 14th-seed Elise Mertens 6-2 7-6 (7-5).
Naomi Osaka had she realized she would have to “take the first step” in protest against racial inequality and “create awareness in the tennis bubble“.
She had initially pull out of her semi-final clash with Elise Mertens at the Western and Southern Open because “as a black woman I feel there are much more important matters at hand“.
Tournament organisers then showed solidarity and suspended play in New York on Thursday, one of a number of sporting events in the US to do so in protest at the shooting of Jacob Blake – a black man who was shot seven times in the back by police on Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Japanese tennis star decided to play again on Friday after which she beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-2 7-6 (7-5) in her rearranged semi-final.
“I honestly didn’t even think it would be that big of a deal,” says Osaka, who wore a Black Lives Matter t-shirt as she walked on to court.
“I always thought it would be nice if someone started in tennis. I’m more of a follower. I was waiting and waiting and then I realised I was the one who was going to have to take the first step.
