Australian Open: Osaka downs Williams to reach final, Muchová v Brady– live! | Sport

For the superstitious types out there, Osaka reveals she ate Greek food last night which broke her tradition of eating Japanese food on the eve of a match.

“Then I went to sleep and I woke up and TT (Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas) beat Nadal and I thought maybe this is a sign, maybe I should keep eating Greek food.”

Osaka, calm and composed, is talking about Williams, a childhood idol, and admits she was “nervous and scared in the beginning”.

Then I sort of eased my way into it. For me, I think the biggest thing is just having fun and it’s the first day having the crowd in a while … it’s always an honour to play her. I just didn’t want to go out like really bad, so I just wanted to try my best.

“I don’t know if there’s any little kids out here today, but I was a little kid watching her play and just to be on the court playing against her for me is a dream. I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned over the years is just like, you know, you’re competitive, you’re playing against another competitor. That itself is the funnest part because tennis is a game.”

Had she worked out Serena’s serve? Apparently not.

“I was just guessing. It was either going this way or that way, I’ve just got to put my foot somewhere.”

A hold of serve will do the trick. Osaka knows it too, by the look of the way she is bouncing at the baseline, readying to serve and making no mistakes this time. An ace precedes three more successful points and Osaka is the first through to the final of the women’s singles. There is clearly a lot of respect behind the pair as they meet at the net but the road ends here for Williams.

Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 5-4 Serena Williams* Hasn’t this taken a turn. But wait, for Osaka has landed a superb backhand near the service line and is up 0-30. Williams falls prey to a double fault this time and no sooner has she delivered her next serve Osaka is dictating play, running the American about and sealing this break to love with an acutely angled backhand.

Second set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 4-4 Serena Williams Oh my, two double faults. It’s 0-40 and Williams has three break points. Convert one and she will restore parity. The first goes begging and so does the second when Osaka serve-volleys and forces a back-foot lob from Williams that is closer to the moon than the court. Osaka double faults again. Yikes, that’s three in one game. Her face says nothing but also everything. If blank stares could kill.

Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 4-3 Serena Williams* Williams obliges with a service game to haunt the dreams of any in her way (12% of men, in particular), and drops one point en route to a hold.

Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha writes in: “Osaka has control over her emotions and she doesn’t consider herself as winner before the match,” he emails. “Serena loses control over her emotions.”

Second set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 4-2 Serena Williams Speaking of the other semi-finalists, Brady and Muchova are already warming up as if this could be over quite soon. And it might be, for Osaka holds comfortably and wraps up the game with an ace. Williams needs to find something or her quest for a 24th grand slam singles title will slip away.

Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 3-2 Serena Williams* The commentators are wondering whether Serena is second-guessing herself because she is treating this like a final rather than a semi-final. It is true that the other semi-finalists, Jennifer Brady and Karolína Muchová, are less experienced. There is also THAT US Open final, the one that shall not be named. But Williams is on the run here, both literally and figuratively speaking, and wins her service game with just one dropped point.

Second set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 3-1 Serena Williams A half-volley has caught Osaka on the hop and she’s not in the right position, too close to lift it over the net. But she will not retreat. After all, she is maybe the biggest striker of the ball in women’s tennis. Williams is becoming frustrated with her inability to take control, shaking her head and lifting her eyes skyward in smiling vexation. Osaka double faults, but atones with a winner.

Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 2-1 Serena Williams* Were we talking about serving just now? It’s chalk and cheese on Rod Laver Arena. Cheese tastes nicer than chalk, so we’ll call Williams’s serve a nice piece of Mersey Valley. This is what will fuel her comeback and it the main reason she holds here, with an ace and another to follow Osaka can barely get her racket to.

Second set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 2-0 Serena Williams A “sorry” rings out as Osaka’s ball toss goes awry and she makes the second, but Williams, who has been allowing her counterpart quite a bit of leeway with shots through the middle of the court, whips a return down the line. Given Osaka is landing only 41% of her first serves this is a frailty there for the taking. A hold consolidates Osaka’s position.

Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 1-0 Serena Williams* Williams needs to rein in the unforced errors. They are racking up too quickly and offsetting the stronger elements of her game. To a certain extent, Osaka has been guilty of this too, but she is making her backhand count, one of which secures a third break of Serena’s serve. My my.

First set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 Serena Williams Osaka is muttering to herself now. She’s at the baseline, up 30-0, releasing that high ball and faulting. Never mind, one more in the bank. The second serve is straight in the net. This is the inconsistency letting down both players, evidenced in the very next point when Osaka lands a first serve that rebounds off Williams’s frame and goes one 10th of nowhere. Osaka is on the front foot now and the ball is at her forehand, then travelling back the other way with enough vigour to close out the set.

First set: Naomi Osaka 5-3 Serena Williams* Say what you like, Serena has a serve to singe the hairs off your nose. I know everybody keeps banging on about her age but I’m sort of on that bandwagon, because the 39-year-old has just thrown down a brutal ace. She is leading 30-0 and under pressure to stay in this set. She cedes one point and holds.

First set: Naomi Osaka* 5-2 Serena Williams This is turning into a bit of a clinic. That confidence plastered across Serena’s face in those opening two games has undergone some sort of transference to the other end of the court, where Osaka has rediscovered the mettle that got her to the semi-finals in the first place. She leads 30-0. She aces. Williams makes her 15th unforced error and Osaka has recovered to claim five consecutive games.

First set: Naomi Osaka 4-2 Serena Williams* Shot! That backhand passing shot is exquisite and duly gives Osaka two break points. She had Williams, 16 years her senior, harrying and hassling, then stretching in vein for a deep crosscourt shot the American lays on a platter for the winner. One forehand winner later and she has a second break!

First set: Naomi Osaka* 3-2 Serena Williams The first set is back on serve and Osaka is keen to keep it that way even if her first serve is not. Williams is wise to the wide second serve and she is turning rallies back onto the reigning US Open champion. Osaka saves two break points and while she does well to hold from deuce, part of can be attributed to mistakes from Williams when she had the upper hand.

First set: Naomi Osaka 2-2 Serena Williams* This is the sting we’ve been been waiting for from Osaka. She’s biting back, striking the ball at shoulder height as Serena tries to hit her where it hurts with that intimidating top spin. At deuce, Williams appears set for an advantage when her shot fortuitously catches the net and pops over but Osaka is there and the ball has whirred past her opponent before she knows which move to make next. Osaka converts her break point and this contest is starting to offer some of the intrigue it promised.

First set: Naomi Osaka* 1-2 Serena Williams Osaka has the advantage and finally gets herself on the scoreboard. This game has see-sawed a little with a few unforced errors in the mix. And the Japanese star double faults. She’s nervy, a little flustered. But a signature ace sees her through.

First set: Naomi Osaka 0-2 Serena Williams* Osaka has clearly not yet found a rhythm. Perhaps more accurately, she hasn’t been given a chance for Williams is the aggressor in pursuit of a 30th grand slam final and 24th singles title, racing to 40-0 via a rally that ends with a smash. An unforced error gifts Osaka a lifeline but this is the only error.

First set: Naomi Osaka* 0-1 Serena Williams What an opening game from Williams. Osaka is serving with power but the American is matching and raising her. She has two break points and needs only one. What an early statement.

And here they are (courtesy also of a quick refresh of my feed), being introduced and warming up. Not long to go.

Well the players are still yet to emerge at centre court despite it being past 2pm. We can see via the broadcast feed the are warming up in the changerooms below.

And here is something reading while you wait to tickle your tastebuds ahead of tonight’s match between Novak Djokovic and THAT Russian qualifier named Aslan. He also has a surname, Karatsev, but he honestly doesn’t need it.