NEW YORK – Naomi Osaka didn’t get much help from a lucky net cord and wrong line call until she managed to get Jennifer Brady’s good in the US Open semifinals full of fast serve and strong forensics.
And now just 22-year-old Osaka is one win away from a third Grand Slam title.
Osaka advanced to the end of the final set with the only service break she would get on Thursday night – and the only one she needed – beating Brady by rad- ((1), -6–6, -3–3, to win the championship again. Final in Flushing Meadows two years later.
The match was played at the Arthur Ashe Stadium stadium with a retractable cover, and the rain pushed the roof hard. This created a conducive indoor environment to hit the club, which produced both women, with thousands of empty blue seats in a tournament closed to spectators due to a throbbing coronavirus epidemic.
“It makes a lot of sense to me,” said Osaka, who was born in Japan and immigrated to the United States as a child. “I consider New York my second home of my kind.” “I love the atmosphere even though there are no people here. I think this type of court suits me well.”
It is suitable for most players of high quality semifinals.
Osaka served 120 miles per hour; Brady reached 117 miles. Once he got into the game and they hit the ball hard, especially from the forehand side.
“I felt like I was sticking to it. It felt like we were trading,” Osaka said. “I tried to adjust a bit to his service in the third set so maybe it might be helpful.”
They combined for 70 winners – about 35 – just 42 unforced errors, which was as good as everyone else, and it took a bit of luck to turn things around after 1 hour, 45 minutes.
That’s when, in the third set at 2-1, Osaka got their first break point with a backhand that clipped the net tape and went ahead. She was able to convert the opportunity when she hit a deep return of 110 miles per hour of service and Brady’s backhand was said to be long in response – although television replays show that it actually catches the back of the baseline.
Brady did not challenge the verdict.
Asha Line is one of only two courts at the US Open this year using line judges; To reduce the number of people at the site, electronic line-calling genders were used at other arenas in the tournament.
In Saturday’s final, Osaka will face 23-time big champion Serena Williams or two-time big champion Victoria Azarenka.
Williams advanced to the semifinals, which were later scheduled for Thursday night, with a 1-4 win over Azarenka, including a 10-0 victory in the Grand Slam tournament, and the 2012 and 2013 US Open titles. The only opponent Williams has played more often is his older sister Venus; They have met 31 times.
The opening set of the first women’s semifinal landed on a tiebreaker and Osaka was superior due to its vast experience in such situations.
She didn’t make a single mistake – Brady’s lawn point was reached by an ace – and he turned it off by cooling it to 120 MPL.
It was set for the first time by Brady in a two-week tournament, but he also did not face the caliber of Osaka, which also includes the number one winner of the 2019 Australian Australian Open Trophy and the number one Asian tennis player. ..
In the second set, however, it was Osaka who blinked, and Brady who collected the first break of the evening. It overtook Os-3 when Osaka lost a forehand on a 19-stroke exchange, then introduced it.
The main material for Pennsylvania’s 25-year-old Brady, who never made it to the fourth round of the Grand Slam tournament before this week.
The Associated Press contributes to this report.
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