Australian Open: Naomi Osaka beats Petra Kvitova in final to become Asia’s first world No 1
- The 21-year-old survives second-set meltdown to claim second grand slam title
- Petra Kvitova forces deciding set after Osaka wastes three championship points in Melbourne Park final
Tears fell down Naomi Osaka’s cheeks as she left the court for a comfort break to gear herself up for a third set she had not expected was coming in Saturday’s Australian Open final.
None of us saw that outcome when Osaka held three championship points at 5-3 in the second set. But she was playing Petra Kvitova, the two-time Wimbledon champion who had battled back to the top of the game from a career-threatening injury when a knife-wielding intruder stabbed her playing hand at her home two years ago. Fighting is in Kvitova’s DNA and the Czech fired herself up.
Osaka’s body language had dropped off a cliff and she chided herself for every error – she was staring at a meltdown for the ages.
But the 21-year-old showed she can fight too, and steeled herself for a 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-4 victory at Rod Laver Arena, and there were tears of joy instead of frustration as she sunk to her knees.
What should have been over in 92 minutes went two hours and 27 minutes, but she got there in the end.
If there were any lingering doubts Osaka was not a genuine superstar, that she had somehow fluked her way to a maiden grand slam title in New York last summer, she made a mockery of them here by showing the mental fortitude of a champion when she could have gone completely off the boil.