Tennis star breaks down in tears after tragic news | Sports News

Clara Tauson struggled to combat back tears after revealing that her grandfather handed away two days earlier than she secured a dominant win in the National Bank Open quarterfinals.

This 12 months’s Canadian girls’s tennis championship has featured no scarcity of memorable moments, with Emma Raducanu getting dumped out in the third spherical by rival Amanda Anisimova whereas top-seeded Coco Gauff was eradicated by Canadian teen phenom Victoria Mboko, taking part in down comparisons between them, in the fourth.

In the most recent upset, No. 16 seed Tauson made fast work of No. 6 Madison Keys, defeating the American 6-1, 6-4 at IGA Stadium en path to punching her ticket to the ladies’s singles semifinals. On the heels of the robust exhibiting, she devoted her win to her grandfather Peter, who tragically died earlier in the week.

“I really wanted to win for him today,” Tauson mentioned earlier than feelings overcame her. “I really wanted to come out here and show my best tennis for him, and hopefully he’s watching.”

Tauson realized of Peter’s passing on Monday, much less than 24 hours after she ousted world No. 3 Iga Swiatek 7-6 (1), 6-3. “He used to coach me a little bit playing tennis and drove me to almost every single practice from my school,” she defined. “It was tough news yesterday morning when I woke up, but I think it’s for the better. He was not feeling great for a while.”

Despite feeling unimaginable ache following the loss of her member of the family, Tauson managed to momentarily block out her emotions whereas on the courtroom. “I just pushed it aside until the match was done. And then obviously, when it’s done, you can let the emotions go a little,” she mentioned. “I tried the past 48 hours to just focus on the match, and now I got the win, and then I’m going to try to push it away again and be ready.”

Tauson tallied 5 aces and transformed three of six breakpoint alternatives whereas successful a whopping 59% of the factors. “She played amazing tonight, she played incredibly well, she served really well,” Keys mentioned of the Danish star. “It was just one of those things where I felt like I kept trying different things, and she was just beating me. When she’s serving like that, it’s going to be really hard to break her.”

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Tauson will now face off towards Naomi Osaka — who bested Elina Svitolina, 6-2, 6-2 — in the semifinals on Wednesday. Although the 22-year-old has but to lose a set at this 12 months’s National Bank Open, she asserted that the best is but to come back.

“Even the last two matches, I don’t think I’ve reached my top level,” Tauson mentioned. “But I’ve been playing really consistently and serving well. I think if I play even better, it’s going to be even harder for the opponents.”