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Naomi Osaka poses with her trophy, after winning her fourth Grand Slam.
Naomi Osaka won her fourth Grand Slam trophy, walking away to beat Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3 in the Australian Open final on Saturday night.
This is Osaka’s fourth title win in eight Slam appearances, emerging from what was initially a tight Australian Open final and going up six games in a row to beat Jennifer Brady.
With a strong serve that produced six aces, Osaka improved to 4-0 in the grand finals, the first woman to start her career that way since Monica Seles did 30 years ago. For Osaka, that’s part of a 12-0 record so far in the quarterfinals and beyond in the majors.
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Osaka defeated American Jennifer Brady in the final of the Australian Open.
The athlete also has a 21-game winning streak dating back to last season. That includes a championship at last year’s US Open. He also won the US Open in 2018 and the Australian Open in 2019.
Osaka, 23, was born in Japan and moved to the United States with her family when she was 3 years old.
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Brady is a 25-year-old American who was playing in her first Grand Slam final. He had to go through a strict quarantine for 15 days when he arrived in Australia in January because someone on his flight tested positive for Covid-19 when they arrived.
This was a huge step forward in the competition during this tournament for Brady, who had not faced anyone ranked in the Top 25 or anyone who had previously appeared in a Grand Slam semifinal.
During the pre-game coin toss, the women’s silver trophy was placed on a clear plastic pedestal, not far from Osaka, on its side of the net. After beating Serena Williams in the semi-finals, Osaka had made her intentions clear: “I have this mentality that people don’t remember the runners-up. You could, but the winner’s name is the one on it. ”
And she keeps making sure that name is hers.
It was colder than Melbourne recently, with the temperature below 20 ° C and a breeze making service throws difficult for both players, catching the ball instead of hitting it and saying “I’m sorry!”
The stadium was allowed to be at half capacity, around 7,500 fans, after spectators were completely excluded at the beginning of the tournament for five days during a Covid-19 lockdown.
Andy Brownbill / AP
Osaka’s victory has established her as a force in women’s tennis.
In Sunday’s men’s final, number one Novak Djokovic will be seeking his ninth Australian Open championship and 18th Grand Slam trophy overall. He faces number 4 Daniil Medvedev, who is on a 20-game winning streak in his second grand final.
Only two active women hold more Slam titles than Osaka: Williams, with 23, and her sister, Venus, with seven.
The next task for Osaka is to improve on clay and grass – she has never made it past the third round at the French Open or Wimbledon.
On Saturday, the final closed at 4, when Brady used a balloon winner in the race who scored by waving his arms to call for more noise from the crowd. That earned him a breaking point: turn it up and she would serve for the first set.
But Osaka erased the opportunity with a cross forehand and two errors by Brady made it 5-4.
Osaka then broke to take the set, aided by Brady’s double fault and a forehand at the net on a short ball to end it.
That was part of the six-game streak that put Osaka ahead 4-0 in the second and she was on her way.
