This time there was no such controversy surrounding Naomi Osaka‘s Grand Slam victory.
Osaka took advantage of her second chance in the third set to defeat Petra Kvitova 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4 on Saturday, win the Australian Open and become a back-to-back Slam champion.
Her US Open victory last year was largely overshadowed by the tense standoff between Serena Williams and chair umpire Carlos Ramos. The umpire’s decision to level point and game penalties against the all-time great became the focus in the aftermath of that match.
Saturday’s match stayed between the lines, as Osaka closed out the victory on her serve after being unable to do so on her first opportunity in the second set.
The title win also means Osaka will become the first tennis player from Japan to reach No. 1 in the rankings.
After taking control of the match in the second set by breaking Kvitova’s serve twice in a row, Osaka stumbled while trying to finish the sweep. She was unable to take advantage of three championship points on Kvitova’s serve at 5-3 and then was broken twice to send the match to a decisive set.
Osaka was yelling at herself. She slammed a ball off the court. She tugged at her pink visor’s brim. She headed to the locker room after the second set with a towel draped over her head.
Hard as it must have been, Osaka regrouped. She also got her powerful shots going again. After Kvitova double-faulted to offer up a break point at 1-all, Osaka converted it with a crosscourt backhand winner. There was still more work to be done and some additional drama when it began raining at the changeover right before Osaka tried to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third set.
This time, Osaka would not falter. She would not let this lead disappear.
In the first set, Osaka had to save two break points in the fifth game and three in the seventh, when she came back from 0-40, to hold. From then on, she applied most of the pressure on Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon winner.
No. 8 Kvitova saved two set points while serving to stay in the set and held with a backhand crosscourt winner to force the tiebreaker.
But the 21-year-old Osaka dominated the tiebreaker, earning another four set points when Kvitova netted a backhand and converting the first of those on another error from the Czech player.
Osaka became the first woman since Jennifer Capriati to win both of her first two Grand Slam finals. Capriati did so at the 2001 Australian and French opens.
Prior to the two Slam victories, Osaka had never made it past the fourth round of a major (2018 Australian Open).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.