Friday 5 October 2018 17:31, UK
US Open champion Naomi Osaka says she apologised to beaten opponent Zhang Shuai for her emotional behaviour in their roller-coaster China Open quarter-final on Friday.
The 20-year-old Japanese fought back tears - and rescued a match that was slipping away from her - to defeat the unseeded home hope 3-6 6-4 7-5 to reach the Beijing semi-finals.
Osaka, who looked glum even in victory and had flung her racquet around during the match, embraced Zhang at the end.
"I was basically apologising because I feel like today I was more emotional than what I normally am trying to be like," said the world No 6.
"The match itself was very draining. I feel like we both fought as hard as we could."
Asked at the post-match press conference - where she again looked unhappy - why she had had tears in her eyes on court, she replied curtly: "Because it was a hard match. That's basically why."
Osaka faces Latvia's unseeded Anastasija Sevastova in Saturday's semi-finals on Beijing's outdoor hard courts.
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Tennis is back on Sky Sports screens with the Japan Open & China Open in October while we will also have coverage of the ATP Finals in November with every match live on Sky Sports.
