Serena Williams misses out on Grand Slam record as Naomi Osaka wins in straight sets

Naomi Osaka booked her place in a fourth Grand Slam final as she again dashed Serena Williams’ hopes of a record 24th career Grand Slam title.

Williams, who had been at her aggressive best in the previous round against Simona Halep, was undone by too many errors from the back of the court in a 6-3, 6-4 defeat.

Unlike Halep, Osaka was undeterred by the early pressure from Williams and broke twice in the opening set. She broke the Williams serve for the third time in the match in the opening game of the second set.

But Williams, with the crowd behind her on their return to the Rod Laver Arena after Melbourne’s mini Covid lockdown, brought back parity in the set at 4-4 only to be broken to love in the subsequent game, leaving Osaka to serve out the match.

Osaka has been in three Grand Slam finals, including the 2019 Australian Open, and won all three. In contrast, Williams had not lost in a semi-final at this tournament in 18 years.

Williams’ last Grand Slam title dates back to 2017 when she won in Melbourne while pregnant with her daughter, and she admitted she was left to rue missed opportunities.

“The difference today was errors,” she said. “I made so many errors today. It was opportunities where I could have won. I could have been up 5-0. It was a big error day for me today.”

She also cut short an emotional press conference in which she was asked about retirement to which she said: “I don’t know. If I ever say farewell, I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

It was a fifth career meeting between the pair with Osaka now holding a 3-2 advantage but without the drama of their most high-profile meeting at the 2018 US Open final.

And the 23-year-old Osaka said: “I don’t know if there’s any little kids out here today but I was a little kid watching her play and just to be on the court playing against her for me is like a dream.

“I was really nervous and scared in the beginning and then I sort of eased my way into it. But it’s just always an honour to play her and I just didn’t want to go out really dud. I just wanted to try my best.”

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Osaka will face Jennifer Brady in Saturday’s final after the American beat Karolina Muchova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to book her place in a first Grand Slam final.

Muchova has earned something of a reputation for her comebacks in Melbourne and nearly pulled off another in a dramatic end to the match as she saved four match points, and had break points of her own to level the game.

After the win, Brady said: “I can’t feel my legs. It’s an incredible achievement.” The final is a repeat of the match-up at last year’s US Open semi-finals and Brady predicted, “I think it’ll be a really tough match. I’m sure I’m going to be nervous but I’ll be super excited.”

Thursday’s semi-final did not truly spark into life until the final game. Muchova had conceded the first set by double faulting when serving to stay in it, and broke back immediately in set two, which she dominated.

The heat appeared to get to the Czech player in the final set before she rallied late on with a series of brilliant shot making before Brady finally sealed the win at the fifth point of asking.

The win was all the more impressive because Brady was the only one of 51 players in the two singles draws to make it past the third round this year having experienced the two-week hard quarantine.

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