mshop.se<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nAfter sealing back-to-back Slam titles twice, Osaka has won half the majors she\u2019s contested since beating Williams to win her first in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThank you for coming and watching, it feels really incredible for me,\u201d she told the crowd, which was capped at half-capacity over coronavirus concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t play my last Grand Slam with fans so just to have this energy really means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Open rematch<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Japanese survived a seesaw start to gain control, reeling off six straight games en route to the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a rematch of last year\u2019s epic US Open semi-final, described by some as the best match of 2020, but Osaka triumphed far more comfortably on this occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the match, Osaka had pinpointed her return as the key, but she was helped out by a shaky Brady who lost her serve in the fourth game after two double faults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Brady, the 22nd seed, hit back with a break and she continued to pile pressure on Osaka\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A brilliant lob winner, showcasing her trademark athleticism, gave a pumped-up Brady a break point in the ninth game, but Osaka held on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brady then played a sloppy game on serve to hand over the set to Osaka, who had a 20-0 record at Melbourne Park when winning the first set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Osaka gained a stranglehold with an early break in the second set and fired down an ace to skip out to a 3-0 lead, followed by a roar of \u201cC\u2019mon!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brady attempted a late rally, but a calm Osaka was not to be denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brady\u2019s resilient run ended after serving 14 days\u2019 hard quarantine before the tournament, unlike other players who were allowed out of their hotel rooms to train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the defeat, Brady will rise to a career-high 13th in the WTA rankings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Japan\u2019s Naomi Osaka dismissed Jennifer Brady in straight sets to win the Australian Open and underline her growing hold on women\u2019s tennis on Saturday. Osaka edged a tight first set but controlled the second to win 6-4, 6-3 in 77 minutes in front of 7,381 fans at Rod Laver Arena. Social distance office management software…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[13,15,21],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/naomi-osaka-tennis-2022.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1189,"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/1189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civictoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}