Naomi tears it up as first Asian star to be No.1
Assistan believes t coach Kenny Murray over Glasgow Ospreys ’s “gutsy” to ahome- canbea victory soil Pro14 springbo Warriors semi-final. ard success hadto grind atastorm- out Murray Friday’s said: “It lashed Scotstou 9-3 But the great was a gutsy n. cushion thing is there victory. of eight is now us and the points a Ospreys between might prove . And crucialwhen that qualifica the tion shake- is up decided .” Naomi Osaka was reduced to tears again on the Grand Slam final stage only for this triumph to end in world No.1 billing rather than boos.
The 21-year-old from Japan beat Czech Petra Kvitova 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 6-4 to be crowned Australian Open champion, making it back-to-back Grand Slam successes.
The first of those, her victory over Serena Williams in the US Open, was marred by controversy and meltdowns amid the American’s row with umpire Carlos Ramos. This time she became the first Asian to top the singles rankings after rallying in the wake of a second-set collapse that saw Kvitova save four match points.
Osaka shed tears after losing the set from a 5-3 lead but returned to court from a washroom break calmer and more composed.
After receiving the trophy on court, she said: “Hello, sorry, couldn’t turn pressure into points and Kings punished them when Banda found the target again after van der Walt had been guilty of tackling a man without the ball.
Ref Jones then refused to send any of the home front row to the sin-bin after six scrum-collapse penalties in succession.
That left the Gunners hugely frustrated and worse was to come when they lost possession over the line after a 31-phase barrage.
Eventually the official relented and yellow carded CJ Velleman for killing the ball close to his posts before handing Edinburgh a penalty try for yet another blatant blocking offence.
Veteran hooker Ross Ford then came off the bench to pounce for a touchdown and van der Walt opened up an eight-point gap.
But the ref ’s lack of consistency was underlined when he binned winger Jimmy Johnstone for a one-off Edinburgh transgression.
And incredibly, the Kings scored twice in the final two minutes through Bader Pretorius and Yew Penxe – whose effort came after a clear forward pass. Jones refused to refer it to his video colleague, leaving the Gunners totally gutted. public speaking isn’t really my strong suit so I just hope we can get through this. Huge congrats to you Petra, I’ve always wanted to play you and you’ve been through so much.
“You’re amazing and I’m honoured to have played you in the final of a Grand Slam.”
For Kvitova, simply being in a final was a triumph of sorts, coming only two years after the knife attack at her home that put her career in jeopardy.
She said: “It’s crazy, I can’t believe I just played a final of a Grand Slam again. It has been a while in a final for me.
“But mostly thank you to my team for sticking with me even if we didn’t know if I would be able to hold this racquet again.”
History looms today with Novak Djokovic out to become the first man to win seven Aussie Opens and Rafa Nadal the first in the Open era to win all four Slams at least twice.
Nadal said: “We push each other to the limit of our tennis level. This is going to be another episode.”