WTA Super Star Serena Williams Plays Naomi Osaka • 2018 U.S. Open Tennis Finals

Written by: Staff on 7th September 2018

WTA Super Star Serena Williams Plays Naomi Osaka • 2018 U.S. Open Tennis Finals

epa07002183 Serena Williams of the US hits a return to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia during their semifinal match on the eleventh day of the US Open Tennis Championships the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 06 September 2018. The US Open runs from 27 August through 09 September. EPA-EFE/JASON SZENES |

Serena Williams of the US hits a return to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia during their semifinal match on the eleventh day of the US Open Tennis Championships the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 06 September 2018. The US Open runs from 27 August through 09 September. EPA-EFE/JASON SZENES

By Ricky Dimon

Serena Williams is playing her best tennis of her comeback. Naomi Osaka is playing her best tennis since she won the Indian Wells Masters and the beat none other than Serena in Miami. The result should be an intriguing U.S. Open final on Saturday afternoon.

Serena was the first two punch her ticket to the title match on Friday night, when she took care of Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-0. Osaka followed suit with a 6-2, 6-4 upset of 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys.

“It is remarkable,” Serena said of her return to tennis, which now features back-to-back Grand Slam final appearances. “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 recent Wimbledon finalist gets even better on Saturday, that will be bad news for Osaka. Either way, though, it will be an amazing experience for the 20-year-old from Japan. She grew up idolizing Serena and even beat the world No. 1 6-3, 6-2 in the Miami first round following her title in Indian Wells.

Unsurprisingly, Osaka had only good things to say about her upcoming opponent 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 said of Serena. “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 this fortnight (the Estonian lost 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 during fourth-round action. Osaka, meanwhile, has survived one three-setter of her won (against Aryna Sabalenka, also in the fourth round) while otherwise cruising into championship Saturday.

Expect a whole lot of big hitting and then a whole lot of kind words to say to each other during the trophy ceremony.