US Open: Naomi Osaka reaches final – now against Serena Williams

The 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams (36) and the 16 years younger Japanese Naomi Osaka will play the final at the US Open in New York.

Williams (USA) did not give Anastasija Sevastova a chance in the semi-final 6:3, 6:0 in 66 minutes. Osaka was the first Japanese woman to enter a major final against Williams’ compatriot Madison Keys 6-2, 6-4 after 1-26 hours.

“This feels a little surreal. Even as a child I dreamt of playing a Grand Slam final against Serena,” Osaka said: “But I shouldn’t see her as my role model, I should see her as my opponent.

Williams will also play on Saturday (22.00 CEST/Eurosport) to equalize the Grand Slam record of Australian Margaret Court (24 titles). In July in Wimbledon, she missed her first chance in the final against Angelique Kerber (Kiel). Osaka have so far only won the WTA tournament in Indian Wells in March.

However, the only duel to date with her idol won the daughter of a Japanese and a New Yorker with roots in Haiti. In Miami Osaka prevailed in two sets. However, the tournament in Florida was only the second for Williams after her return to the tour. On September 1, 2017, during the US Open, she gave birth to her daughter Olympia.

Williams himself called her comeback “remarkable”. She was only at “50, 60 percent” and still on her way to becoming “the Serena I was. And I don’t know if I’ll ever become that strong physically, emotionally and mentally again,” Williams said, recalling the time of my birth a year ago: “At that time I fought for my life. Now she is at the beginning of her return.

Thanks to her experience of 30 Grand Slam finals, Williams is still considered the favourite against the highly talented Osaka. Altogether Williams lost only seven major finals, twice against Kerber, twice against her sister Venus and once each against Samantha Stosur, Maria Sharapova and Garbine Muguruza. In Flushing Meadows Williams triumphed in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

On her way to her ninth US Open final she only gave one set in six matches. She dominated Sevastova (28) after a weak start (0:2). Sevastova, who had previously defeated defending champion Sloane Stephens (USA) and reached a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time, lacked the means to endanger Williams.

Osaka also marched confidently through the tournament, except for losing a set against Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus in the round of 16. Against Keys (23), who reached the final in New York last year, she scored her first victory in the fourth duel. She fended off all 13 break points of her opponent.