US Open: All you need to know about Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka stunned Serena Williams in the women's singles final of the US Open 2018. The Japanese youngster claimed her first Grand Slam of her career. For Serena, the pursuit of 24th career Slam was dashed by her long-time fan Osaka. Osaka defeated Serena 6-2, 6-4. Notably, this was Serena's second successive loss in Slam finale. Here we look at Osaka's career achievements.
Osaka has a dual citizenship of US and Japan respectively. She moved to the US at the age of three and currently resides in Florida. Earlier, her best performance at the Slams was fourth round in 2018 Australian Open. Osaka became the first Japanese to win a Slam. On Monday, she will achieve 7th rank in the world, which is her highest ranking ever.
Earlier this year, Osaka won the Indian Wells Open in USA to pocket her first major Women's Tennis Association title. She had beaten Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2 to win the finale in straight sets. Earlier, she had reached 4 ITF finals and interestingly lost all four matches. In the last two US Open outings, her best outcome was reaching round 3.
Your 2018 #USOpen champion...@Naomi_Osaka_ 🏆🗽 pic.twitter.com/yAPFaezBpz
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2018
Osaka is surely one of the future stars to look out for. The 20-year-old has the pedigree to march ahead and the US Open win could be just the start. Over the years, besides Serena's dominance, the Slams have been somewhat distributed between the rest. Osaka will be wanting to be different from the rest and show consistency.
Osaka will face severe challenge from rising stars like Sloane Stephens in the future. The likes of Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki are strong contenders for the next few years as well. The women's pool is large and this year we have had 4 different Slam winners to suggest the same.
