'So wholesome': Naomi Osaka's message to ball kid in viral photo

Naomi Osaka has given a shoutout to an Australian Open ball girl who was pictured grinning in delight after the Japanese star's recent Australian Open victory.

The 23-year-old took out her second Australian Open singles title thanks to her straight sets defeat of American rival Jennifer Brady earlier in February.

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Osaka has been soaking up the victory in the days since, and noticed a heartwarming picture from the moments after her 6-4, 6-3 victory that had previously gone unnoticed.

As Osaka celebrated in the foreground of the shot, a young girl working as a ball kid could be seen looking up at the Japanese star in admiration.

Sharing the photo on Twitter and racking up thousands of likes and retweets in the process, Osaka said she was delighted the moment was captured so perfectly.

“Was looking at pics from AO and I just noticed the ball girl in this … hi,” Osaka wrote, accompanying the image with various emojis.

Getty Images photographer Quinn Rooney captured the moment, which earned a heartwarming reaction from fans as well.

Teichmann, Gauff into Adelaide semi-finals

Swiss Jil Teichmann and American teen Coco Gauff are into the final four of the Adelaide International after surviving tough quarter-final encounters.

Teichmann clawed her way to a marathon victory over Latvian veteran Anastasija Sevastova, winning 6-4 6-7 (8-10) 7-5, and was later joined by Gauff, who also had a fighting battle with fellow American Shelby Rogers.

Recovering from a patchy start, the 16-year-old Gauff triumphed 2-6 6-4 6-4.

Teichmann had five match points in the second-set tiebreaker but was unable to close it out.

The 23-year-old was then forced to save two match points while trailing 5-4 in the third.

Teichmann levelled at 5-5 before breaking Sevastova's serve and finally secured the rollercoaster victory on her seventh match point, taking just under three hours.

The world No.61 led 6-3 in the tiebreak but she couldn't shake her opponent, who squared it at 6-6.

The young Swiss had a further two chances, netting her fifth match point, while world No.56 Sevastova made no mistake with her first opportunity to push the match to a deciding set.

Teichmann looked down and out early in the third, trailing 3-0, but she showed bravery to keep going for her shots, with her booming forehand doing most of the damage.

"It was a rollercoaster and what I felt was nerves," Teichmann said.

"It was a very tense match, very long rallies every time and Anastasija is a tough player and you have to play every point and every game, doesn't matter if you're serving or returning."

With AAP

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