The Japanese third seed swept past the American veteran 6-3,
6-4 on Rod Laver Arena in front of thousands of fans allowed back in after
Melbourne lifted a snap five-day lockdown.
She will face either American Jennifer Brady or Czech
Karolina Muchova on Saturday for a fourth Slam title after her success at
Flushing Meadows in 2018 and last year, and Melbourne in 2019.
The victory left Williams, who won her last major in
Melbourne in 2017, stranded on 23 Grand Slam titles as she strives to match
Margaret Court’s all-time record.
Since winning while pregnant in Australia four years ago,
Williams has lost four Slam finals, including one to Osaka in a controversial
and heated 2018 US Open decider which left both women in tears.
“I hit a lot of unforced errors in the first few games, I
was just really nervous and scared,” said Osaka, who reeled off five games in a
row in the opening set after going 2-0 down.
“But then I sort of eased my way into it and the biggest
thing for me was having fun.”
“For me, it’s always an honour to play her and I didn’t want
to go out (of the tournament) really bad, so I just tried my best,” she added.
Big-match experience
While Osaka held a 2-1 head-to-head advantage going into the
blockbuster clash, 39-year-old Williams had a huge edge on big-match
experience.
Ahead of the showdown, she had won all eight of her previous
semi-finals at Melbourne Park stretching back 18 years to when she beat Kim
Clijsters on her way to her first title in Australia.
Her first ever Grand Slam semi, against Lindsay Davenport at
1999 US Open, was played when Osaka was just one.
But the 23-year-old boasted a 100 percent win record in
Slams when she got past the fourth round, and she kept it intact Thursday.
Williams worked hard on her fitness during the off-season
and quickly asserted herself, breaking Osaka straight away with the Japanese
sensation having issues with the sun and ball toss.
She consolidated by holding serve, with Osaka guilty of five
unforced errors in the opening two games.
Osaka said before the match she still felt intimidated
seeing Williams on the other side of the net, but her early nerves soon
settled.
She saved a break point in the next game and got off the
mark with an ace, then broke back to level the scores at 2-2 when Williams sent
a forehand long.
Now well and truly in her groove, with her forehand doing
most of the damage, Osaka won five games in a row, and the set, to leave
Williams stunned.
She broke again on Williams’s opening serve of the second
set, with the American screaming: “Make a shot, make a shot!”
With the crowd roaring her on, Williams stayed in touch and
Osaka’s eighth double fault gave the American a break back.
But it was a short-lived reprieve with Osaka breaking again
and calmly serving out for victory.
(AFP)
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