Naomi Osaka stands in the way of Serena Williams making history at the US Open
New poster girl of tennis goes up against perhaps the greatest ever player at Flushing Meadows
A year ago at this time, Williams was between the third and fourth surgeries she required for complications that followed the birth of her daughter. On Thursday she stood at centre court at Arthur Ashe Stadium with tears in her eyes, a catch in her voice and a berth in the final in her pocket after a systematic 6-3, 6-0 dissection of Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in the evening’s first semi-final. Six times a US Open champion, she’s tantalisingly near equalling Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
“Honestly, it is remarkable,” Williams told an adoring crowd. “I couldn’t have predicted this at all.”
A year ago at this time, Osaka ranked 45th in the world. She was powerful and promising, but so were dozens of other youngsters. Her career zigzagged. She reached the high of winning the title at Indian Wells in March and sank to the low of a three-match losing streak that had her crying in the locker room in Cincinnati a month ago. “I thought, ‘Wow, I’m really bad at tennis,’” she said.
On Thursday, with an unrelenting will that helped her save 13 break points against her, the 20-year-old from Japan romped past 2017 US Open finalist Madison Keys 6-2, 6-4 in the second semi-final. Repelling that many break points is unusual, but Osaka was fuelled by a single great wish.
