Once again, Serena Williams came within reach of a record-breaking 24th Grand Slam title, playing well enough to reach the final days of a major tournament. And again, Williams couldn’t quite get it done – beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Naomi Osaka in the semifinals of the Australian Open on Thursday (Wednesday night EST).
Spectators were back in the stands on Thursday after not being at the tournament for five days during a local COVID-19 Lockdown. About 7,000 people were allowed into the stadium for the Williams-Osaka tilt, about half the capacity.
Osaka, who also defeated Williams in the chaotic 2018 US Open final, reached her fourth major title match and expanded her winning streak to 20 games.
Third-seeded Osaka also won the US Open last year, along with the Australian Open in 2019.
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On Saturday, at 7:30 pm local time (3:30 am EST), Osaka will meet a first-ever Grand Slam finalist for the championship. No. 22 Jennifer Brady of the United States was on the program against No. 25 Karolina Muchova in the second semifinal on Thursday.
Thursday’s schedule included a men’s semi-final: No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Aslan Karatsev, a qualifier from Russia who ranks 114th and competes in his first Grand Slam tournament.
Djokovic is looking for a ninth Australian Open title and an 18th Grand Slam trophy overall.
Rafael Nadal – who lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter finals after taking a two-set lead – and Roger Federer are tied for the men’s record of 20.
On the hottest day of the hard court tournament so far – 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) – Osaka got off to a shaky start, perhaps forced to push into her opening game by a thriving backhand return winner from Williams on the second point of the game.
That was followed by a double fault, a wild forehand, and finally a netted backhand that handed over a break. Williams quickly went up 2-0, then had another breakpoint with a chance of a 3-0 lead on another double error by Osaka.
However, it didn’t take long for Osaka to rebuild itself.
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After losing to Osaka, questions about retirement for Williams arose. At a press conference, she was asked if this was her way of saying goodbye.
“If I ever said goodbye,” she replied with a smile, “I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
When the next question came back to the subject of Williams’ many mistakes against Osaka – twice as many casual mistakes, 24, as winners, 12 – she shook her head.
Williams eventually started crying and said, “I’m done” before leaving the press room.