Camila Osorio hopes for a sold out crowd in the Philippine Women's Open Finals, regardless if the cheers are for her or not.
Camila Osorio is looking forward to a sellout crowd when she plays in the Philippine Women’s Open Finals against fan favorite Donna Vekic Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
But regardless of who the audience will be cheering for, Osorio said that she loves it when people go to watch tennis.
After playing against Alex Eala in the quarterfinals, Osorio already knows that it takes to win against a heavy fan favorite.
[RELATED: Camila Osorio happy to have ‘challenged’ Alex Eala in Philippine Women’s Open win]
In facing another popular ace in Vekic, Osorio is eager to show her wares as she looks to win her first WTA title outside of her home country.
“It's going to be fun. I like that. I just, as I said before, I like to have people watching. I like to, you know, even if it's not for me, if they can see me playing tennis, it's a dream for me,” Osorio said after her semis masterclass to advance.
“I grew up when I was six years old, and I was like, I want to be a professional tennis player. I want to be number one in the world, so I want to have the opportunity to show what I got and my talent, and if it's for me, good. And if it's not, it's also good.”
Conquering nerves
But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Colombian on the way to the Philippine Women's Open Finals.
Apart from her two-set challenge against Eala, Osorio also endured a three-set marathon against Japan’s Mai Hontama in the Round of 16 and was tested qualifier Sakura Hosogi.
Now with one challenge left, Osorio hopes to apply her learnings from her earlier matches.
“Yeah, for sure the first match, I was really, really nervous. I think I didn't play that well. She had too much to give for me, but I wasn't feeling myself too much, too many mistakes, and I was trying to go for too much sometimes instead of trying to be the point,” said Osorio of her match against Hosogi.
“So, yeah, I think after the first set, I was like, oh my, I had a deep breath after that, but it happened. So I think that match, I won the second match, also at the end of the second set, but after that, I think it was good.”
Osorio faces her biggest challenge yet of the Philippine Women’s Open, with Paris Olympics silver medalist Donna Vekic on the opposite side of the net.
—
Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.