Naomi Osaka and Opponent Halt Citi Open Match to Help Ailing Fan
· Yahoo Sports
The scorching temperatures in Washington, DC, have become a big problem at the Citi Open. With temperatures soaring over 90°F regularly during the afternoons, the heat became too much to handle for one of the fans during the quarterfinal between Naomi Osaka and Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
The incident occurred during the first set with Cocciaretto leading 5-4 and having the opportunity to serve for the set. As she was about to begin her service game, fans suddenly started shouting from one end of the stand to gain the chair umpire’s attention. Turns out someone had fainted in the crowd and needed immediate medical attention. As a result, the match was halted, and both players did their best to help the ailing fan.
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First, the chair umpire rushed towards the stands to hand a water bottle. While Osaka gave away one of her towels, Cocciaretto handed an ice pack to the crowd, which was passed to the unwell fan. Both players and the chair umpire looked very concerned for the fan.
The match would soon resume, and Cocciaretto would take the first set by winning the tenth game. But Osaka would go on to mount a remarkable comeback. She showed real resilience in the heat and clinched the second set to level the match.
The Japanese would continue this momentum in the decider and would prove to be too good for Cocciaretto. She secured her spot in the semifinals with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory, which came after two hours and 11 minutes. This marks Osaka’s second semifinal of the season, with her previous appearance at the stage coming in the Bad Homburg Open.
She will be taking on the in-form Alexandra Eala in the last 4. Interestingly, this will be their first tour-level meeting, so no one really knows what to expect. The two will be hoping that the conditions in the American capital will become better by the time they take the court.
The heat is quite intense in several parts of the USA at the moment. For context, the Memphis Open saw Ekaterina Alexandrova get upset by the 16-year-old Kristina Liutova, who was making her debut on the WTA circuit. Alexandrova had to retire from the match during the deciding set due to the extreme heat and exhaustion.
After losing the first set and then levelling the match by winning the next, Alexandrova was serving to stay in the match while trailing by 5-4 in the decider. It was here that she suddenly started feeling sick and took a break after almost every point. She decided to call for a medical timeout while trailing the game by 15-30. Notably, the two had already played for over three hours under a scorching temperature of 93.2°F (34°C).
After getting examined, Alexandrova decided to retire from the match, handing Liutova a 7-6, 4-6, 5-4 victory. Perhaps the result could have been way different for the Russian if it weren’t for the brutal heat.
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