Naomi Osaka played Bianca Andreescu in a fascinating matchup at the 2024 Libema Open, but she couldn’t beat the Canadian player.

The two are amazing tennis players who have struggled in recent years. For Osaka, it’s been mental health, while for Andreescu, it’s been mostly injuries, but also a bit of mental health.

Right now, they’re both playing and playing pretty well, as this match proved. Osaka was heavily favored ahead of this meeting because she’s looked really good on a tennis court recently and has had many more matches than Andreescu in 2024.

In their match in Den Bosch, the Canadian proved just how good she can be, even with the lack of matches. The opening set started pretty well for both, but neither managed to break.

It was stopped midway through because of rain, and when they returned, Osaka looked a bit shaky. She dropped her serve, which proved very problematic, as the Canadian sealed the first set 6-4.

The second set was much better for the four-time major winner, who found her rhythm once more and easily outplayed Andreescu to take a 5-1 lead. She lost one of those breaks but then held to win the second set 6-3.

She just had far better solutions for what her opponent was doing because, in that first set, she couldn’t really touch her serve. The match was heading into a very interesting decider, and Osaka held the edge early on because of the momentum.

Both players had chances to break early in the third, but neither was able to do so. It was an awesome battle, with both giving their all to try to win. Andreescu could find a break midway through, taking a 4-2 lead.

She couldn’t finish it off, though, as the Japanese player broke back when she served for the match. The match ended up in a tie-break in which Andreescu played slightly better, winning it 7-3, and the match 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) to reach the 2024 Libema Open semi-finals.