Osaka claims fourth slam with Australian Open victory over Brady

Japan’s Naomi Osaka has won the Australian Open for a second time with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Jennifer Brady.

The 23-year-old third-seed Osaka now has four grand slam titles with Melbourne crowns from 2019 and 2021 joining her US Open triumphs in 2018 and 2020. She maintained her record of never having lost at a major from the quarter-final stage onwards.

Brady, 25, ran to her maiden grand slam final as 22nd seed despite spending two weeks in hard coronavirus quarantine in the run-up to the event.

Osaka saved a break point in the ninth game before capitalizing on Brady going long and then netting

on her next serve to claim the crucial first set.

Improving after a slow start in tricky windy conditions, Osaka raced to 4-0 in the second set and though Brady pulled a break back, Osaka served out to claim the win in front of a reduced 7,500 crowd amid global pandemic.

“I didn’t play my last grand slam with fans, so just to have this energy, it really means a lot,” Osaka said on court.

“Thank you for opening your hearts and your arms towards us. For sure I feel like playing a grand slam right now is a super privilege and it’s something I won’t take for granted, so thank you for this opportunity.”

Osaka is the first woman to begin her career going four from four in grand slam finals since since Monica Seles in the early 1990s. And her tally is now just one short of the likes of Martina Hingis and Maria and Sharapova on five.

It was rarely in doubt and looked like it would be simpler when Brady’s serve collapased in game four with a second double fault handing Osaka the first break.

But Brady broke back immediately and enjoyed her strongest spell of the game with a big hold in game eight and before she pressured Osaka’s serve by dashing to chase down a drop shot and deliver a perfect lob for break point.

Osaka saw off the danger with a magnificent forehand onto the line, however, and found the stripe again a game later to bring up set point.

Brady set up the chance to save herself with a big serve but netted a potentially simple winner and never fully recovered.

Nonetheless she can look back on a fantastic run in Melbourne which will take her into the world’s top 20 next week despite being unable to train before the event due to quarantine rules.

Brady was one of those where a coronavirus case was recorded on her flight into the country and she was restricted to her room for 15 days. Of more than 50 singles players in this situation, only she made it beyond round three.

“I was in the quarantine and they did everything possible for me to make it as comfortable as possible,” she said.

“I was able to do everything I could in the room and I appreciate everything that they did for me while I was there, so thank you.”

Osaka held her first serves in the second set while adding two breaks, the second thanks to three unforced errors, to move within touching distance of victory.

Brady reclaimed one break but Osaka was not threatened again and two long returns in succession ended the outsider’s hopes of an upset having also lost to the same opponent in an epic US Open semi-final three-setter in September.

“I told everyone that would listen that you’re going to be a problem — and I was right,” Osaka, the future world number two behind Australian Ash Barty, told Brady.

In Saturday’s mixed doubles final, Czech-american duo Barbora Krejcikova and Rajeev Ram defeated Australia’s

Samantha Stosur and Matthew Ebden 6-1, 6-4.

Stosur and Ebden only entered the competition on a wild card while Krejcikova could celebrate going one better than in the women’s doubles, in which she lost the final with compatriot Katerina Siniakova on Friday.

Djokovic dismisses Medvedev to claim Australian Open

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic won a record-extending ninth Australian Open and 18th grand slam with a ruthless 7-5, 6-2,

6-2 victory over Russia’s Daniil Medvedev on Sunday.

His latest triumph in Melbourne brought the 33-year-old world number one Djokovic to within two of the record mark of 20 major wins shared by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic was more aggressive throughout but in a first set, which had one exchange of breaks, needed until the 12th game to strike decisively when he took the third of three break points to seal the set.

Medvedev, who entered on a 20-game winning streak, threatened to come back by breaking at the start of the second set but Djokovic won the next four games to take control of the contest and never looked back.

An early break set the tone in the third set and another in the final game, taken with an overhead into the corner, secured victory on his first championship point.

“It has been a rollercoaster week for me,” said Djokovic, who was criticized for complaining

about coronavirus quarantine conditions players had to endure upon arriving in Australia for the tournament.

“There are a lot of mixed feeling about what has happened in the last month or so with tennis palyers coming to Australia but I think when we draw a line at the end it was a succesful tournament.

“It wasn’t easy but I think they should be proud of themseves for what they have put together and allowed us to come here.”

Djokovic won his first slam in Australia in 2008 in what was a rare break of the then FedererNadal duopoly. Since then he has established himself as part of that big three with Dominic Thiem’s US Open win last season — when Djokovic was disqualified early — the only major taken out of their hands since 2016.

And on the blue hard-court of Melbourne, Djokovic has secured precisely half his grand slam titles with other wins in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 as well as the two preceding years.

“Rod Laver Arena, I love you each year more and more,” said Djokovic. “The love affair keeps going.”

The 25-year-old Medvedev was appearing in his second slam final having lost an epic 2019 fiveset US Open duel to Nadal but struggled to settle and dropped his opening service game.

He broke back in the fifth game of the set but Djokovic, who struggled earlier in the tournament with what he confirmed was “a tear,of the abdominal oblique muscle,” was succeeding in keeping the points short. He gradually upped the

pressure and broke again to seal the set.

World number four Medvedev broke at the start of the second when Djokovic weakly found the net but immediately went long to hand it back and repeated the error again on his next service game to give Djokovic the initiative.

Djokovic completed that set with another break and saved two break points on his own serve to open the third. Medvedev netted straight after to effectively seal his fate though he battled on, occasionally hitting his racket or trying to gee up the crowd — limited at 7,500 at Melbourne Park amid the coronavirus pandemic — until finally succumbing.

“Never easy to speak when you just lost a grand slam final, but

I’ll do my best,” said Medvedev. “Congrats to Novak. Nine Slams in Australia is amazing and this won’t be your last one.”

Djokovic returned the compliment, saying Medvedev was “definitely one of the toughest players I ever faced in my life.

“It’s a matter of time that you will hold a Grand Slam for sure — if you don’t mind waiting a few more years!”

Filip Polasek and Ivan Dodig earlier won the men’s doubles title with a 6-3, 6-4 final triumph against previous champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Slovakia’s Polasek and Croatia’s Dodig claimed their first grand slam title as a pair against the American-british duo.

Ram can console himself with the mixed doubles title which he won Saturday with Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic.