Top Seed Ann Li Survives Tagger Thriller to Reach Osaka Semifinal

Top seed Ann Li needed everything she had to get past a fearless teenager and reach the semifinals of the Japan Open in Osaka. The world No. 25 from the United States defeated Austria's Lilli Tagger 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 in a quarterfinal on Centre Court that finished late Thursday night in Japan. Li took a tight opening set, but the 18-year-old Tagger — ranked a career-high No. 57 and the 2025 Roland Garros junior singles champion — responded strongly to level the match in the second. The decider went the distance, with Li finally prevailing in the tiebreak to close out a genuine three-set battle. It was another impressive scalp in Li's strong Asian swing: the American had already stunned world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and recorded the 100th tour-level win of her career during her run to a maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Wuhan earlier this month. Tagger's rise continues to be one of the season's stories — she won the WTA 250 title in Prague this year and arrived in Osaka with more than 30 wins in 2026 after starting 2024 ranked outside the top 900. Li now moves into Saturday's semifinal in Osaka as the favourite.