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Naomi Osaka flirted with ignominy before quelling Victoria Azarenka’s energetic challenge to win her second US Open, and the third hit of her young career, at the end of an extraordinary fortnight at Flushing Meadows.
She won 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, only the fourth female final to reach the distance in 25 years, and the first at an Arthur Ashe Stadium with a scattered audience of fellow professionals, friends, coaches and officials, though It could all be over before the lights began to blast on Broadway.
Osaka said: “It was a really difficult match, but inspiring as I used to watch Vika when I was young. I thought it would be very embarrassing to lose in less than an hour, so I had to stop having a bad attitude. And the point of [her seven face masks] it was to get people to start talking. “
Azarenka told the winner: “It has been an incredible two weeks for you, I hope we can meet in some more finals. It was a long way to get here, but it was fun. “
Azarenka, who stated beforehand that she intended to enjoy the experience whatever the outcome, had reason to smile after six minutes, breaking down and holding on with chilling calm.
Much has been made of the finalists’ parallel narratives, Osaka took her racial consciousness to a peak Saturday night with her seventh face mask, this one honoring 12-year-old Tamir Rice, shot to death in Ohio six years ago while sitting in a park with a toy gun, and Azarenka returning to prominence at 32, the proudest of mothers, and one of nine in the draw at the start of the fortnight.
But noble rhetoric and poignant stories aside, tennis is his job and, when Azarenka broke again to lead 4-1, forcing an overcooked forehand from Osaka, he was clearly doing very well. Against Serena Williams in the semifinals, Azarenka suffered an equally swift attack, losing the first set 6-1 before regrouping to win with resounding tennis of the quality she brought to the court by reclaiming her two majors.
Osaka’s grand slam successes are more recent and his weapons more intuitive, perhaps, as his coach, Wim Fissette, said earlier. He had also trained Azarenka, of course, and considered her game to be more programmed. As the contest unfolded, that judgment seemed to hold, although it was Azarenka’s solid serve that gave her a winning platform, with an impressive 94% landing in the first set.
Azarenka, moving inside the court at every opportunity to unleash his trademark backhand down the line, continued to punish Osaka, who was looking for variety to shore up his resounding power. The backhand, unsurprisingly, found an empty spot and the first set flew by in 27 minutes.
Osaka had won all of the opening sets of her tournament and had only broken five times in six matches, but now she had to face an opponent who played with freedom and certainty. Azarenka broke it for the fourth time to go 2-0 in the second. A defeat seemed likely.
If Azarenka played the best game of her comeback to beat Williams, she was reaching those heights and surpassing them now. It was a revelation. Almost nothing failed, from the serve to the hits to the ground.
A strong forehand from Osaka forced the two in the third game, and a forehand earned him a first break point. When Azarenka hit long, Osaka’s relief was palpable, but he had a lot of work to do. Since Arantxa Sánchez Vicario beat Steffi Graf, the defending champion, in 1994, no woman had come back from a set down to win the US Open. It was the only set the Spaniard lost in the entire tournament, and that was also 6-1.
It took Osaka 40 minutes to hit his first ace and began to do it more fluidly to fight what was hurtling into great embarrassment. If she could take it to a third party, maybe she could put the chaos behind her, but she was behind in the duty cycle, so there was no room for slippage.
The first sign of doubt on the other side of the net came when Azarenka gave Osaka three break points in the seventh game, often a crucial moment in a set, and pulled out her latest setback to give the 2018 champion an advantage. for the first time. hour.
Osaka’s poise returned quickly, her racket now a rapier rather than a burden. She hit her 37th ace of the fortnight, followed by a scorching setback, and Azarenka, who looked like a dunk winner not long before, needed to hang on to keep the second set alive.
However, Osaka’s power was at its peak now, and after an hour of uncertainty and two break points in the best game of the match, he slid a winner down the line to set up the perfect ending to a match, the one-set. shooting.
If there had been a crowd, they would surely have been evenly divided on sentiments, which of course is not supposed to exist in professional sports. Despite all their goodwill, the fighters attacked fiercely in the final frame.
Having nearly drowned in the first set, Osaka was now riding a fierce wave, though Azarenka timidly struggled to stop a five-game streak at 1-1 in the third.
However, there was a growing sense that this was the title Osaka could lose, a suspicion that was strengthened when Azarenka committed his second double fault on his way to a 3-1 loss. She won and blew three break points on Osaka’s serve and her cause seemed doomed.
She did her best to extend the drama, holding on and then breaking 3-4, but Osaka, exhausted and struggling to focus so close to the award, broke again and served for the title. Azarenka saved a championship point but threw a backhand for second and made for a night of great drama after one hour and 53 minutes.
