At first it seemed Naomi Osaka might have walked away with second place. After a dismal 1-6 loss of the first set, Osaka hit back in the second, seeing off competitor Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Osaka finished the tournament by taking home her second US Open title, and her third grand slam title. The 22-year old was last supposed to face Azarenka in the Western & Southern Open, at the end of August, but had to forfeit due to a hamstring injury.
“It’s been an incredible two weeks for you,” Azarenka told her opponent. “I hope we can meet in some more finals. It was a long road getting here, but this was fun.”
Osaka faced stiff competition from the US’s Jennifer Brady in the semi-finals, only just taking the first set 7-6, and losing the second 3-6. Back in January, the Japanese player lost the final of the Australian Opener to Cori Guaff, and there were debates over her fitness going into the US Open following her injury.
Now she sits at number nine in the WTA world rankings, just one rung below tennis icon Serena Williams.
“It was a really tough match, but inspiring…” Osaka said. “I thought it would be very embarrassing to lose in under an hour, so I had to stop having a bad attitude.”
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