Naomi Osaka def. Petra Kvitova [7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-4]
It was a beautiful evening for the crowning of the new Australian Open champion.
The roof was open, the orange hues of the sun were slowly fading as the entirety of Melbourne was fixated on two fantastic players that have wowed the hard-surface courts down under through the first Grand Slam of the calendar year.
Petra Kvitova tried to play a strong game in order to stop her overwhelming opponent in Naomi Osaka. Unfortunately for her, the 2019 US Open winner would not be denied and pulled off a superb win that shoots her straight to the top of women’s tennis.
She is now the newest queen of the tennis courts, and the target on her back will be bigger when they start playing out the rest of the 2019 circuit.
Highlights of the game
These two women made the final through two different routes. Some may say that the Czech star even had an easier route to the final. She didn’t have to meet an out-of-sorts Serena Williams who wanted to cement her legacy as the sport’s greatest female player.
Meanwhile, Osaka had to pull off strong Australian Open 2019 results against strong opposition in the latter half of her championship run: she sent Anastasija Sevastova, Elina Svitolina, and Petra’s sister Karolina home. In fact, Karolina would have given her more of a tight match if she wasn’t embroiled in such a struggle with Williams.
The moment they met in the middle of the Rod Laver Arena to start the match, they knew that winning the first set would be crucial to winning the game. And both of these ladies delighted many SBOBET fans with the way they played the first set.
Both women treated the crowd to thrilling plays as they combined to make seven service aces in the first set alone. Kvitova knew that she cannot beat Osaka’s lightning-fast serves and did everything she could to keep her service games. Everything was fine until the tiebreak, where the Japanese star managed to break two of her serves and snatch the first set.
The second set saw Kvitova make a breakthrough. She managed to break her first service game of the set just by sending her serves back and playing for defensive winners. Osaka managed to break the next game back as well as Kvitova’s next game, but the 28-year-old continued to play resilient tennis and win the last four games.
The third set came, and it’s do-or-die for both of them. Kvitova played her first service game brilliantly, not allowing Osaka to get even a single point. However, Osaka managed to snatch the next three games. That run proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the Czech’s Australian Open hopes as she wasn’t able to manage to break her Japanese opponent one more time to fight for a tiebreak.
Kvitova didn’t hide her emotions after playing such a brilliant game with Osaka. She admitted during the post-match interview that she is “hurting a lot”.
“I wanted to win and have the trophy,” Kvitova said. “But I already won two years ago. So, for me, it’s amazing. I think I still don’t really realise that I played the final.”
She promises that she will return to the biggest stage once more. Until then, every one will allow Osaka to enjoy the moment that was robbed of her during the first time she won the Grand Slam.
Key statistics
Osaka’s serves have been outrageously fast, and this proves to be true in the final. Her fastest serve was at 192 km/hr, and her average serve speed was at 172 km/hr, a full 10 km/hr ahead of Kvitova. However, both were just inaccurate with their first serves, with Kvitova being just ahead at 64%.
Kvitova made a lot of dashes to the net and has a good conversion rate with her net points: she won 10 of the 12 net point plays she attempted. However, she was sloppier on the day as she made 39 unforced errors compared to Osaka’s 33.
This is the first time these two have met on the professional circuit, but I have no doubts that both of these ladies will cross paths more often in the coming tournaments. It will be interesting to see how their head-to-head would look like a year from now.
What’s next?
The hard-surface court season would stay a while until around March where the transition to clay-court tournaments. Expect both ladies to participate in as many tournaments as they can in preparation for the French Open come spring.
Osaka will be a heavy favourite in the coming tournaments after beating the tough Australian Open 2019 odds set against her. They will definitely attack her service game, and it will be up to the young Japanese star to handle the pressure.
Meanwhile, Kvitova has not made the French Open final in recent years and would like to get to the final match at this year’s Roland Garros.
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