US Open final: Naomi Osaka makes history, Serena Williams accuses umpire
What's the story?
Naomi Osaka becomes the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam after she defeated her idol and former US Open Champion Serena Williams 6-2 6-4 in a tense counter in New York which saw Serena accusing the chair umpire of 'lies' and called him a 'thief' in the process.
In case you didn't know...
The Japanese made her first grand slam final against an opponent whom she admired growing up and knew from the word go that she has to be at her absolute best to have any chance of causing an upset. Osaka made her intention clear from the opening game of the match and never let Williams settle down to her useful self in the game.
Serena lost her temper in the process and walked up to the chair umpire, pointing at him as the crowd started booing in the direction of the former world number one. She even took it further extreme and accused him of being a thief and demanded an apology for his previous couple of violations. Ramos, the chair umpire had enough of Serena, and he penalized her for the next game leaving Osaka at 5-3 with just one game away from a first Grand Slam title.
The heart of the matter
Going into the final, Serena was the clear favorite to add another Grand Slam to her already rich collection of trophies. But things didn't go out as planned for the American. Osaka was aggressive throughout the match. Williams' made 13 unforced errors as Osaka broke for 2-1 and 4-1 leads on her way to the first set. Serena lost her way gradually in the match with heated arguments with the umpire and never looked like coming back.
What's next
Serena has now lost two back-to-back Grand Slam finals - Wimbledon and US Open which is sad, but that won't take anything away from the glorious things she has achieved in her career so far. She might need to regroup once again and chop and change some tactics for the next final that she plays. For Osaka however, this is her moment, one she will never forget this no matter how many slams she wins in her career. She would want to carry this momentum forward into the next year and add some more Grand Slams to her trophy cabinet.