World number two Elena Rybakina came from a set down to defeat four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka on Tuesday and reach the WTA Toronto Masters semi-finals, where she will face fourth-ranked Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n
Rybakina, the reigning Australian Open champion from Kazakhstan, fired 13 aces in a 4-6, 7-6 (7\/5), 6-4 victory.<\/p>\n
"Super happy. It was a very difficult match," Rybakina said after a tight battle lasting 2hr 33min.<\/p>\n
"In the first set (I made) a few mistakes, a poor start.\u00a0<\/p>\n
"It was a really tough one but I'm glad I could turn it around, I don't yet know how, but I think my serve helped me a little bit."<\/p>\n
Gauff, a 22-year-old American, had a walkover into her first Canada semi-final when Switzerland's Belinda Bencic withdrew with a hip injury.<\/p>\n
"I'm really sorry to not be able to compete," Bencic said in a statement. "I tried everything possible to be ready. Looking forward to being back in Toronto next time."<\/p>\n
Gauff, the 2023 US Open and 2025 French Open champion, defeated Rybakina in their only previous meeting, which came at Toronto in a 2022 third-round match.<\/p>\n
"I definitely need to bring my energy and serve well."<\/p>\n
Poland's Iga Swiatek and Ukraine's Elina Svitolina meet in Wednesday's other semi-final.<\/p>\n
Osaka and Rybakina staged a dramatic duel in their first ever meeting on tour.<\/p>\n
"We practised couple of times before so I more or less knew how the ball was going to come, what to expect," Rybakina said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
"In some moments my energy wasn't there but I'm glad in the end it went my way."<\/p>\n
Rybakina double-faulted to hand Osaka a break in the opening game and the Asian star held serve from there to claim the first set in 42 minutes.<\/p>\n
The pair exchanged breaks of service twice in a drama-filled second set but in the tiebreak Rybakina never trailed and smashed a forehand winner to force a third set.<\/p>\n