Serena Williams to face Naomi Osaka in US Open final

Serena Williams has advanced to the final of the US Open, besting Anastasija Sevastova in straight sets on Thursday, 6-3, 6-0. Williams will face Naomi Osaka, the 20th seed appearing in her first ever Grand Slam final event. Osaka bested No. 14 Madison Keys, 6-2, 6-4, in the late match on Thursday.

Osaka handled Keys very well, but mostly limited her unforced errors to stay ahead. She also converted three of her four break attempts for the match.

Prior to Thursday’s match, Williams and Sevastova had never played each other, and it was Sevastova’s first appearance in a Grand Slam semifinal.

Williams’ return to tennis following the birth of her child has been successful for certain, with some great matches and an appearance in the Wimbledon final on top of her accomplishments at the US Open. Finishing the year on a high note with a US Open win sure would be nice.

In Williams’ very first service game on Thursday, Sevastova had a double break attempt. Williams saved one of them, but Sevastova managed to get the break when Williams hit one long. Williams then held, and had a break point opportunity of her own. She didn’t convert on her first two attempts, but she made it on the third to get the set back on serve. She then held, and broke Sevastova to take a 4-2 lead. She held, and forced Sevastova to serve to stay in the match.

Sevastova held, and Williams was serving for the match — she held, taking the opening set, 6-3. She then broke Sevastova to open the second set, and was in control from there. Sevastova fought back when Williams was serving at 3-0, but Williams came right back and held to stay on top. She then broke Sevastova again, and held to close out the match.

In her run through the US Open, Williams most recently bested eighth seed Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals, and handled Kaia Kanepi, the unseeded player who took down top seed Simona Halep in the opening round, prior to that. Her most impressive win, though, was a completely dominant performance over her sister, Venus Williams, in the third round.

Sevastova has beaten some of the best in the sport to make it to Thursday’s semifinal. She took down Donna Vekic, Claire Liu and Ekaterina Makarova in the first three rounds. Then she bested seventh seed Elina Svitolina in the Round of 16. In the quarterfinals, the downed Sloane Stephens, the third seed and defending champion, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

Osaka has beaten Laura Siegemund, Julia Glushko, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, the tough Aryna Sabalenka and, prior to Thursday, the unseeded Lesia Tsurenko in the quarterfinals. She only gave up two games to Tsurenko, so nerves were certainly not an issue there.