Tennis: Naomi Osaka bags title at 2021 Australian Open

MELBOURNE—Naomi Osaka gave Jennifer Brady a lesson in Grand Slam tennis as she cruised to a 6-4 6-3 win to claim her second Australian Open title on Saturday and cement her standing as the new queen of the women's game.

Osaka's victory over the 22nd-seeded American at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena gave the Japanese her fourth major crown.

Fans hoping for a repeat of the pair's engrossing U.S. Open semi-final last year were left disappointed as Brady froze in the spotlight of her first Grand Slam final.

Third seed Osaka played some way short of her best tennis but it was more than enough as she clinched six straight games to take the first set and stormed to a 4-0 lead in the second.

Brady belatedly conjured some resistance to break Osaka against the flow of play and claw back to 5-3.

But the American bowed out as she started, with errors flying off her racket.

Osaka served out the match to love, with a big serve sealing it when Brady thumped a forehand return long. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Ken Ferris)

-reuters-

2021 Australian Open: Semis-bound Jennifer Brady changes tune on tennis

Big-serving Jennifer Brady revealed Wednesday that she once loathed tennis but has "grown to love it" after staging a comeback victory over fellow American Jessica Pegula to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.

The 22nd seed finished strongly with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win on Rod Laver Arena and will now face Czech 25th seed Karolina Muchova, who earlier stunned world number one Ashleigh Barty.

Brady, the last woman standing among those forced into a hard 14-day quarantine after arriving in Australia, is into the final four for the second time in the last three Slams. 

Before last year's US Open, where she lost an epic semi-final to eventual champion Naomi Osaka, Brady had been bounced out of the first round four times in her previous five majors. 

"It definitely helps, just helps overall confidence," she said about making Grand Slam semi-finals.

"Just knowing that I belong at this level, I can compete in the second week of Grand Slams consistently, and hope to continue to do that consistently." 

Brady looked in trouble after dropping the first set and threw her racquet in frustration after losing a point in the middle of the second set. 

The outburst, much like Novak Djokovic's racquet-smash on Tuesday, seemed to refocus Brady, who then ran away with the match after dominating the deciding set. 

Brady, 25, said she's become consumed by tennis, watching "as much as possible" -- a far cry from her childhood, when she disliked the sport. 

"I've grown to love it. When I was younger, I used to hate watching tennis. I didn't really enjoy playing either, to be honest," she said.

"I didn't like to study. I didn't like school. I found that out real quick when I went to college. 

"I was like, 'Okay, studying isn't really for me.'

"So it took me to get away a little bit from the sport to realise that this is what I want to do."

Having beaten her friend Pegula, whose billionaire father owns the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise, Brady is now just a victory away from a maiden Grand Slam final, but Muchova stands in the way.

"She's crafty, looks to move forward and has an all-court game. She's really athletic," Brady said of the Czech, who won the pair's only previous clash.

"I hope it will be a good, competitive match. I'm looking forward to it."

Agence France-Presse