Naomi Osaka conceded her attitude was unacceptable as she crashed out of the last four of the Brisbane International to Lesia Tsurenko. The US Open champion looked unsettled throughout the match with her Ukrainian opponent, eventually going down 6-2 6-4.
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Osaka said immediately after the match that she had already learned from the defeat and has withdrawn from the Sydney International to address her attitude issues ahead of the Australian Open. “I was sulking a little bit, and there are moments that I tried not to do that,” the 21-year-old explained.
“I feel like I didn’t really know how to cope with not playing well.” “I feel like, in a way, that this experience for me is better than winning the tournament.
“This helpless feeling I have, I learned sort of what I can do to improve the situation so there aren’t many moments that I feel like that.”
Tsurenko will now face 2017 winner Karolina Pliskova in Sunday’s final after the fifth seed defeated Donna Vekic 6-3 6-4 in the other half of the draw.
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