Serena Williams is in her best form since giving birth to her first child last summer. Naomi Osaka is in her best form since she won the Indian Wells title and then beat none other than Serena in Miami. The result should be a high-quality U.S. Open title match on Saturday.
Serena was the first to book her spot in the final on Friday evening, when she made routine 6-3, 6-0 work of Anastasija Sevastova. Osaka followed with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys.
“It is remarkable,” Serena said of her comeback, which now features back-to-back Grand Slam final appearances (lost to Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon). “I couldn’t have predicted this at all. (I’ve) just been working really hard.
“This is just the beginning of my return. I’m still on the way up; there’s still much more that I plan on doing. You don’t reach your best a couple months in. That’s kind of where I am now. I just feel like there’s a lot of growth to still go in my game. That’s actually the most exciting part.”
If the former world No. 1 gets even better on Saturday, that will be bad news for Osaka. Either way, however, it will be an amazing experience for the 20-year-old from Japan. She grew up idolizing Serena and even stunned the 23-time major champion 6-3, 6-2 in the Miami opening round following her title at the Indian Wells Masters.
Unsurprisingly, Osaka had only good things to say about Serena after she beat Keys on Thursday night.
“When you just come back and then you make the finals of two slams, I think that’s really amazing,” the world No. 19 praised. “I’m sure that everyone knows that Serena’s really good, of course. But I really feel like I don’t want to overthink this match, so I’m not going to think that she’s so much better than she was in Miami. I’m just going to go out there and play. Since I already know she’s a good player, I don’t want to be surprised if she plays better or not.”
“It feels a little bit surreal,” Osaka admitted. “Even when I was a little kid, I always dreamed that I would play Serena in a final of a Grand Slam. Just the fact that it’s happening, I’m very happy about it. At the same time I feel like even though I should enjoy this moment, I should still think of it as another match. Yeah, I shouldn’t really think of her as my idol; I should just try to play her as an opponent.”
So far only Kaia Kanepi has come close to challenging Serena through two weeks in New York (the Estonian succumbed 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 during fourth-round action. Osaka, meanwhile, has survived one three-setter of her own (against Aryna Sabalenka, also in round four) while otherwise cruising into the final.
With Serena close to her best and the enormity of the occasion in front of Osaka, this is the American’s title to win or lose.
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