Osaka Returns and Beats Azarenka at US Open; 3rd Slam title

NEW YORK – After an errant forehand in the first set of the US Open final, Naomi Osaka looked at her coach in the almost empty Arthur Ashe Stadium bleachers with her palms up, as if to say, “What the heck is going?”

In response to another whimsical forehand against Victoria Azarenka seconds later, Osaka dropped her racket. It spun around a bit and rattled against the court.

Surprisingly out of place in the early hours of Saturday, Osaka continued to miss shots and dig a deficit. Until all of a sudden, he picked up his game and Azarenka couldn’t sustain his start. In the end, Osaka managed a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 comeback victory for his second US Open championship and third Grand Slam title overall.

“I thought it would be very embarrassing to lose this in less than an hour,” said Osaka, who flopped on the court after winning.

A quarter of a century had passed since the last time the woman who lost the first set of a US Open final ended up winning: in 1994, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario did it against Steffi Graf.

This was a back and forth affair. Even after Osaka took a 4-1 lead in the third set, the outcome was unclear. He held four break points in the next game, convert any of them, and it would have served for the victory at 5-1, but Azarenka was unfazed.

Azarenka stayed there, somehow, and broke to go 4-3, then stood up and stretched during the change that followed.

But Osaka regained control, then covered her face when the final ended.

“Actually, I don’t want to play you in more finals,” a smiling Osaka said to Azarenka afterwards. “I didn’t enjoy that.”

Osaka, a 22-year-old girl born in Japan and now based in the United States, added to her trophies from the 2018 US Open, won with a brilliant performance in a memorably chaotic final against Serena Williams, and the 2019 Australian Open.

The more than 23,000 seats in the main arena at Flushing Meadows were not fully claimed, only mostly, while fans were not allowed to attend due to the coronavirus pandemic, dozens of people who worked on the tournament attended, and the cavernous place was not totally silent, just for the most part.

Certainly no thunderous applause or cacophony of shouts that would normally reverberate over and over and over again during the course of a Grand Slam final, accompanying player introductions either before the first point or after the biggest of blows.

Instead, a polite handful of applause from various hands marked those moments.

Osaka entered the court wearing a black mask bearing the name of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy killed by police in Ohio in 2014.

Osaka arrived in New York wearing seven masks named after black victims of violence and wore a different one for each match, honoring Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Philando Castile.
“The point is to get people to start talking about it,” Osaka said during the trophy ceremony on Saturday.

She has been at the forefront of efforts in tennis to raise awareness of racial injustice in the United States.

He joined athletes in various sports by refusing to compete last month after the Jacob Blake police shooting in Wisconsin; He said he would not participate in his semi-final at the Western & Southern Open, and then decided to play after the tournament lasted a full day. out in solidarity.

Osaka and her coach have said they believe activism off the pitch has helped her have energy and mindset in games.

The victory over Azarenka, a 31-year-old Belarusian who is also seeking a third Grand Slam title but first in seven and a half years, put Osaka at 11-0 since tennis was resumed after her hiatus due to the COVID-outbreak. 19.

Azarenka won the 2012 and 2013 Australian Opens and lost in the US Open finals each of those years.

“I thought the third time was the charm,” Azarenka said, “but I think I’ll have to try again.”

He ran his own 11-match winning streak through Saturday, including a thrilling three-set win over Williams in the semi-finals.

And three minutes into the final, Azarenka had a break.

He did so with an excellent response, including a forceful response to a 119 mph serve to deliver a forehand with a net; that could have been on Osaka’s head when he double-faulted on the next point.

And Azarenka did it with a defense that doesn’t let the ball pass, stretching the points until Osaka missed, which he did by hitting a right hand into the net to make it 1-0.

A hug of love for Azarenka made it 2-0.

Osaka was making the kind of mistakes that he almost completely avoided in the last few games.

In contrast, it seemed as if Azarenka couldn’t miss, rushing toward her position, always arriving on time and hitting deep groundstrokes in the corners. Most of the time, points end with an Osaka error.

Azarenka also broke early in the second set and was up 2-0. The question went from “Who will win?” a “Could this be the most uneven women’s final at the US Open since the professional era began in 1968?”

No, Osaka quickly determined.

She broke down to put herself on a level playing field, then again to lead 4-3 in the second set as Azarenka’s mounting blunders led to a wide setback.

This is how Osaka transformed the game: he approached the baseline, redirecting shots with greater speed and force. It didn’t help Azarenka that he didn’t keep his form from the first set, who could have? – and began to hit the ball with less stridency.

Much of this was due to Osaka’s transformation from shaky to firm. She had only five winners in the first set, 16 in the second. And talk about the cleanliness of your act – you went from 13 unforced errors to just five.

In the third, Azarenka was the unsafe one, double faulted to set up break points, then scored a forehand to close out a 17-shot exchange to fall behind 3-1. She would not leave quietly, but it was Osaka who would take the title.

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