Thursday, February 18, 2021

Osaka goes for number 4

Tomorrow, Naomi Osaka will attempt to win a fourth major. Her chances of doing that are excellent, yet standing in her way is an athlete just as serious and determined. The rise of Jennifer Brady has been dramatic and impressive, and--no matter what the result of the Australian Open final turns out to be--Brady is someone with whom to be reckoned.

Yesterday, she and the very talented Karolina Muchova played in the "other" semifinal, which actually turned out be the semifinal. Brady wasn't at her best during much of the match, and she was playing against the 2021 Australian Open's undisputed Comeback Queen, so things got dicey. She took the first set 6-4, Muchova took the second set 6-3, and the third set led to a final game that we'll be talking about for a while.

Ahead 4-2, Brady looked bound to grab a spot in the final, but, after all, it was Muchova on the other side of the net, and the Czech player doesn't care if you're up a break. Eventually, Brady served for the match at 5-4, and things became very tense. Muchova saved two match points, and then Brady threw away a third. Before it was over, there were half a dozen deuces, and Muchova had failed to convert three break points. Finally, on her ffith match point, Brady got the job done. That last game, however, was as thrilling as anyone could hope to see in a tennis match.

Certainly, that match was more "worthy" of being a final than the one that preceded it, which was predicted to be worthy of a final. Osaka again took on her idol, Serena Williams, who has looked excellent throughout her time in Melbourne. 

Osaka got off to a slow start, but was able to calm her nerves fairly early in the opening set. Williams, however--after getting off to a strong start--made uncharacteristic errors from which she could not ultimately recover. The seven-time champion wound up hitting twelve winners and making 24 unforced errors; she broke Osaka once out of four tries. Osaka, who had a 75/57 first and second serve win percentage, emerged with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Osaka and Brady have played each other three times, and Osaka won two of those matches. The notable contest between them took place in 2018 at the U.S. Open, when Osaka defeated Brady 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals. 

Here are the players' paths to the final:

JENNIFER BRADY (22)
round 1--def. Aliona Bolsova
round 2--def. Madison Brengle
round 3--def. Kaja Juvan
round of 16--def. Donna Vekic (28)
quarterfinals--def. Jessica Pegula
semifinals--def. Karolina Muchova (25)

NAOMI OSAKA (3)
round 1--def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
round 2--def. Caroline Garcia
round 3--def. Ons Jabeur (27)
round of 16--def. Garbine Muguruza (14)
quarterfinals--def. Hsieh Su-Wei
semifinals--def. Serena Williams (10)

The women's doubles championship will be played later today, as 3rd seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova compete against 2nd seeds Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka. Krejcikova, the defending champion, is also into the mixed doubles final.

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