Name: Naomi Osaka vs Victoria Azarenka US Open 2020 Final | PREVIEW
Uploaded: 2020-09-12T18:50:13.000Z
Duration: 8 min 39 s
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After an Osaka withdrawal two weeks ago in the Cincy Finals, Victoria vs Naomi is once

again concluding a major tournament this time the US Open.

Will Naomi make her second New York major or can Azarenka push through to win her first

I'll break down the match and predict who I think will hold the trophy here on GS Tennis

Naomi opened up against countrywoman Misaki Doi playing a solid match despite dropping

Her second round against Giorgi was a lot more straightforward as she crushed the Italian

In the third round she was tested greatly by 18 year old Martya Kostyuk pulling off

a mini comeback from down 1-2 0-40 in the third to win 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.

She cleaned things up significantly, dominating Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 6-4, then American Shelby

The semi finals saw her face a tougher American Shelby Rogers, coming through 7-6 3-6, 6-3.

Azarenka won her first match against Austrian Barbara Haas 6-1, 6-2, then beat 5th seed

Vika took out Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-2, then in the round of 16 she dropped her first set

of the tournament to Karolina Muchova but won that match 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.

In the quarterfinals she clobbered Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-0.

Lastly, in the semis she took perhaps her most incredible victory ever coming back to

beat Serena Williams in an amazing 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 match.

Looking at the head-to-head between these two women, Osaka leads it head-to-head 2-1,

minus the withdrawal, winning their last meeting in 2019 at the Roland Garros second round.

Naomi won that class match in three tough sets.

Osaka also dispatched of Vika at Rome in 2018, but Azarenka did the same to HER back at the

Both players are well accomplished at 2 majors a piece, but Azarenka being the more experienced

Osaka has the edge in US Open titles though, her 2018 trophy eclipsing Vika's two previous

For Naomi's keys to the match she first needs to use the slice serve out wide.

She used this serve very well against Brady yesterday, and it's also a serve that was

Vika's forehand is much improved but the slice wide to that wing will lead a different

While on the topic of serves, Naomi should make sure that she mixes hers up and offers

different speeds and spins even on the first serve.

Bringing up the Serena match again, Williams served very well the entire match and was

However Victoria began to get used to the pace and patterns, so to avoid the same fate

My next point is kind of a two in one which is to first cover the wide second serve on

This seems very specific but the second serve of Azarenka for one is the softest shot she'll

To fully take advantage of this Naomi needs to cover that topsin wide serve because it's

When she does hit the return Osaka should direct it more to the middle, forehand side.

Serena made the mistake of constantly returning it wide which Azarenka then numerous times

took control of the rally with her backhand up the line.

Returning up the middle especially to the forehand takes away angles and the backhand

The fifth and final point is to keep using angles and cutting off the court.

In the semis Serena did good to dictate many points but hit with great power on practically

This later on became ineffective because Vika is one of the best players at absorbing pace.

Instead, angles work much much better as it prohibits Azarenka from defending to the best

For Azarenka to be successful she should maintain decent pace on both her first and second serves.

Part of Serena's early success yesterday was her ability to dictate even off the return

Once she upped the ante however, Williams didn't have many chances to do this and

A point that plays into this is to have a high first serve percentage.

Yesterday in the first set Azarenka only hit 52% of first serves in, but in the second

This is the main reason why she wasn't broken at all in those sets

Still on the serving aspect of things Victoria should try to read Naomi;s ball toss because

the Japanese woman is pretty predictable with her direction and especially with that slice

As far as groundstrokes go, Azarenka needs to go hard up the middle pretty frequently

to avoid many of those incredible Osaka angles and to just keep her from dictating points.

My fifth and final point for Vika is to have a strong start.

Yesterday the slow start almost sent her packing so to prevent this scare Azarenka needs to

bring the intensity from the very first ball

For my match prediction I'm picking Naomi to beat Victoria in three sets.

The way Azarenka has been playing in her past two matches she looks like the world number

I even believe she's playing slightly better than Naomi.

However, I'm unsure of how she will handle the occasion of playing in her first slam

Let me remind you we don't know how she'll do in those finals because she was given the

Azarenka is usually guns ablazing when facing Serena getting out to fast starts, but yesterday

you could tell she felt the pressure and she took a while to get going.

If Serena had perhaps kept the pressure on her early on in the second she might not have

turned it around, but being the excellent fighter she found a way.

Although I believe nerves will play a part in the initial stage I dont think it'll

be as bad as Serena in slam finals, because Vika doesn't have the added pressure from

the public of winning additional slams to extend her legacy.

Serena aside because I'm talking way too much about her in this video, Naomi has been

sharp from the gate in all of her matches and I pick her to do the same here.

I think she can beat Azarenka in straights if Vika is indeed feeling pressure and Naomi

Once again though, Azarenka is such a big fighter and I think she will at least come

However, Osaka armed with Wim Fissette who coached Azarenka in the past will thus have

a better insight on her opponent which will be the difference maker in big points.

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Naomi Osaka vs Victoria Azarenka US Open 2020 Final | PREVIEW

incredible

decent

tough

grab