Eyeing record 24th Grand Slam, Serena will face Naomi Osaka in title clash
Six-time champion Serena Williams swept aside Anastasija Sevastova on Thursday to reach a ninth US Open final, where she'll face Japanese trail blazer Naomi Osaka.
Williams, seeded 17th as she seeks to add to her 23 Grand Slam titles for the first time since the birth of her daughter Olympia last year, needed just 66 minutes to dispatch the 19th-seeded Sevastova 6-3, 6-0.
Osaka, seeded 20th, became the first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam final with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over American Madison Keys — last year's beaten finalist.
Williams called her return to the US Open final for a ninth time "incredible" given that she was undergoing surgery for life threatening blood clots this time last year in the wake of giving birth.
"To come from that, in the hospital bed, not being able to move and walk and do anything, now only a year later, I'm not training, but I'm actually in these finals, in two in a row," said Williams, who also reached the final at Wimbledon.
"To come this far so fast .... I'm really looking forward to the possibilities." Williams lost out in the semi-finals of her last two US Opens, in 2015 and 2016.
But with six titles in New York she needs just one more to surpass Chris Evert for most all-time — and she needs just one more Grand Slam title to equal Australian Margaret Court's all-time record of 24.
Osaka, 20 and in the last four at a Slam for the first time, admitted she was driven by the idea of facing Williams.
Asked how she managed to save all 13 break points she faced, Osaka said: "I was just thinking I really want to play Serena." '
Asked to elaborate, Osaka seemed stunned.
"Because she's Serena — what do you mean!" said Osaka, who had already made history along with men's semi-finalist Kei Nishikori as the first Japanese man and woman to reach the last four at the Slam.
"It still feels really weird because I've never beaten Madison before," she said. "I'm just glad I was able to get through this match."
‘Just getting started'
Serena Williams once again targets a record 24th Grand Slam singles title at the US Open on Saturday.
Win or lose, the US great says she's just getting started in the latest phase of her career.
"I'm still on the way up," said the 36-year-old, who is playing her seventh tournament since the birth of daughter Olympia on September 1 2017. "There's still much more that I plan on doing."
Williams came agonizingly close to matching Australian Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 major titles at Wimbledon, but fell to Angelique Kerber in the final.
It was the high point of a return that began in March and has not surprisingly been, at times, erratic.
But once again Williams has shown she can rise to the occasion on the game's biggest stages.
Another US Open title — four years after her sixth — would be not a culmination but a springboard, she said.
"I just feel like there's a lot of growth still to go in my game, that's actually the most exciting part," she said.
"Even though I'm not a spring chicken, I still have a very, very bright future."
The players that have faced her so far in Flushing Meadows say the current Serena is tough enough — perhaps as good as ever.
"It's tough to say," said Anastasija Sevastova after Williams swept past her 6-3, 6-0 in the semi-finals. "She played finals in Wimbledon. She's playing finals here. I think this year is not bad for her."
Eighth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who briefly rose to number one last year, fell to Williams in the quarter-finals, two years after shocking her in the semis.
"I don't feel any difference," Pliskova said of Williams's game. "She's playing with the same power. She can still serve well. I think maybe she's back on the level where she was."
‘I love you', Osaka tells Serena
Naomi Osaka told US Open title opponent Serena Williams "I love you" just moments after she became the first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam final.
The 20-year-old breakout star of the tournament swept into the record books and Saturday's championship match against the 23-time major winner with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Madison Keys, the runner-up in 2017.
When asked on court what she told herself as she served for the match, she said: "Don't double fault".
"Why," asked the interviewer. "Serena," replied the charismatic Osaka.
"I love you, Serena," she added before adding "I love you, mom; I love everybody".
Osaka, the 20th seed, has met and defeated Williams once — at Miami in March.
That win came just a week after she had lifted her first top-level trophy at the prestigious Indian Wells event in California.
Saturday will be the fulfilment of Osaka's childhood dream of facing Williams in a Grand Slam final.
"It still feels a little bit, like, surreal. Even when I was a little kid, I always dreamed that I would play Serena in a final of a Grand Slam," she said.
"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, like, my idol. I should just try to play her as an opponent."
The contrast on Saturday cannot be greater.
Serena will be playing in her 31st Grand Slam final and ninth at the US Open where she is a six-time champion.
When the American, 16 years her senior, won her first US Open in 1999, Osaka was not yet two years old.
Whatever happens in the final, Osaka said she will remain a fan of the American who is chasing a record-equalling 24th major, just a year after giving birth and undergoing four post-natal surgeries.
"When you just come back and then you make the finals of two slams, I think that's really amazing," added Osaka in reference to Williams's runner-up spot at Wimbledon in July.