It is a fourth Grand Slam title in as many finals contested. 23-year-old Japanese Naomi Osaka, third player in the world, won the Australian Open on Saturday (February 20), beating American Jennifer Brady (24e) in two sets (6-4, 6-3).
Osaka, after a small slump in the second part of the first set, stifled Brady’s resistance. The former world number one, also winner of the 2018 and 2020 US Open and 2019 Australian Open, will regain second place in the WTA rankings on Monday, while the American will climb to thirteenth – her best ranking in career.
Without playing her best tennis, the Japanese was on top. While their previous meeting, in the semi-finals of the last US Open, had resulted in a very close match and finally won by the Japanese 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, the final on Saturday was been one way.
Having taken control from the start with a station wagon that broke it off 3-1, Osaka subsequently suffered a downturn and left the gripping Brady to come back to 3-3 and engage in a standoff. . The American even had one break point to lead 5-4, but she couldn’t finish. It was even she who gave up the round on two big unforced errors.
Osaka then took the trophy for good, coming off 4-0 in the second set. Brady, however, did not give up, having managed to redo one of his two late breaks – not enough to destabilize Osaka, who was never worried.
