Melbourne: Serena Williams was hoping to win a record 24th Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open tennis tournament here. However, her aspirations disappeared into thin air against a determined and free-stroking Naomi Osaka here. The Japanese defeated Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4 to move closer to the title. Serena could never do anything right during the match while Osaka played free flowing tennis.
In a rematch of their tumultuous 2018 US Open decider, Osaka underlined her status as the new queen of women’s tennis. She will meet the winner of Jennifer Brady and Karolina Muchova in the title match.
“I did a lot of unforced errors in the first few games. I was really nervous and scared in the beginning and then I sort of eased my way into it,” said Osaka on court. “It’s just always an honour to play her (Serena) and I just didn’t want to go out really dud. I just wanted to try my best,” the Japanese player added.
Serena started well breaking Osaka in the opening game. But the Japanese third seed reeled off five straight games in a devastating display before closing out the set with a blazing forehand winner. Osaka took Serena’s serve in the first game of the second set. However, she allowed Serena to level up at 4-4 by committing three double faults during her service game.
However, Serena repaid the favour with a double fault on the next service game giving Osaka three breakpoints. Osaka converted the first then closed out the match when Serena thudded into the net.