Naomi Osaka beats Jennifer Brady to win the Australian Open
What's the story
Naomi Osaka overcame Jennifer Brady in the women's singles final of the Australian Open 2021. Osaka showed her quality to assert her dominance over Brady. She won in straights sets. With this victory, Osaka has lifted the AO crown - her second at Melbourne Park. The 23-year-old also secured her fourth career Grand Slam title. Here's more.
Feats
Grand Slam finals: Osaka maintains 100% record
With this victory, Osaka is on a 21-match unbeaten streak as she maintained her 100% record in the final of a Slam event. Osaka has won two US Open titles and and has now clinched her second Australian Open crown. Osaka has now won a Slam for the fourth successive year. She had earlier won the AO in 2019.
Journey
Osaka's road to the Australian Open title
1st round: Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-2 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2nd round: Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-3 Caroline Garcia 3rd round: Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-2 Ons Jabeur 4th round: Naomi Osaka 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 Garbine Muguruza Quarter-final: Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-2 Hsieh Su-wei Semi-final: Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4 Serena Williams Final: Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-3 Jennifer Brady
AO final
Osaka breezes past Brady
The first set saw Osaka get the first break to make it 3-1. However, Brady showed resistance and broke straight back to make it 3-3. Osaka maintained her superiority and led 5-4 as Brady lost serve to concede the first set (6-4). In the second, Osaka grew in confidence and went 4-0 up. Brady broke service and fought back, but Osaka prevailed 6-3.
Grand Slam
Osaka unbeaten in 14 Grand Slam matches
Osaka now has a 22-4 record at the Australian Open. This is the second Slam event where she has registered 21-plus wins after the US Open (21-3). Osaka now has a tally of 53 wins at Slam events, besides suffering 14 losses. She has now won 14 straight Grand Slam matches.