Osaka comes back to win US Open title

NEW YORK (AP):

After one errant forehand in the first set of the U.S. Open final, Naomi Osaka looked at her coach in the mostly empty Arthur Ashe Stadium stands with palms up, as if to say, “What the heck is happening?”

In response to another wayward forehand against Victoria Azarenka seconds later, Osaka chucked her racket. It spun a bit and rattled against the court.

Surprisingly off-kilter in the early going yesterday, Osaka kept missing shots and digging herself a deficit. Until, suddenly, she lifted her game, and Azarenka couldn’t sustain her start. By the end, Osaka pulled away to a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 comeback victory for her second U.S. Open championship and third Grand Slam title overall.

“For me, I just thought it would be very embarrassing to lose this in under an hour,” said Osaka, who laid down on her back on court after winning.

This, then, is what she told herself when things looked bleakest: “I just have to try as hard as I can and stop having a really bad attitude.”

It worked. A quarter-century had passed since a woman who lost the first set of a U.S. Open final wound up winning: In 1994, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario did it against Steffi Graf.

This one was a back-and-forth affair. Even after Osaka surged ahead 4-1 in the third set, the outcome was unclear. She held four break points in the next game — convert any of those, and she would have served for the win at 5-1 — but Azarenka didn’t flinch.

Azarenka held there, somehow, and broke to get to 4-3, then stood and stretched during the ensuing changeover.

But Osaka regained control, then covered her face when the final was over.

“I actually don’t want to play you in more finals,” a smiling Osaka told Azarenka afterward. “I didn’t enjoy that.”

Osaka, a 22-year-old born in Japan and now based in the United States, added to her trophies from the 2018 U.S. Open — earned with a brilliant performance in a memorably chaotic final against Serena Williams — and 2019 Australian Open.

Azarenka carried an 11-match winning streak into yesterday, including a stirring three-set victory over Williams in the semi-finals, stopping the American’s bid for a 24th Grand Slam singles title.

Azarenka won the 2012 and 2013 Australian Opens and lost in the finals of the U.S. Open each of those years.

“I thought the third time was the charm,” Azarenka said, “but I guess I’ll have to try again.”