The Latest: Kvitova levels Australian Open final vs Osaka
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Latest on Saturday at the Australian Open (all times local):
12:25 a.m.
First-time combination Rajeev Ram and Barbora Krejcikova have won the Australian Open mixed doubles title with a 7-6 (3), 6-1 win over Aussie pair John-Patrick Smith and Astra Sharma.
It was the first tournament together for each team, the winners as the No.3 seeds and the Australians needing a wildcard to even get into the draw.
While Krejcikova, the No. 1-ranked doubles player, shared the 2018 French Open and Wimbledon women’s doubles titles with compatriot Katerina Siniakova. Ram’s only previous Grand Slam final appearance was runner-up finish in the 2016 U.S. Open mixed with fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe.
___
11:35 p.m.
The No. 1 ranking was at stake as well as the Australian Open title, and so Petra Kvitova finished second on both counts after losing to Naomi Osaka.
The two-time Wimbledon champion can see the 21-year-old Osaka has all the components to her game to stay there for a while.
“Women’s tennis is very open. You really never know who going to be there. But definitely she’s playing great game,” Kvitova said. “She’s really big player, as she showed in the results, winning the U.S. Open and Australian Open, it’s an amazing achievement.”
Osaka was the first woman to win back-to-back majors since Serena Williams’ run of four straight ended in 2015. She’s also the first player from Japan to hold the top spot in the WTA or the ATP rankings.
“Definitely she is a great one,” said Kvitova, who will next week match the career-high ranking of No. 2 she had in 2011. “We’ll see what the future will bring. But for sure she has probably everything (needed) to be there and play her best tennis.”
___
10:15 p.m.
Naomi Osaka has won the Australian Open for her second consecutive Grand Slam title by beating Petra Kvitova 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4 in the final.
The 21-year-old Osaka also becomes the first tennis player from Japan to reach No. 1 in the rankings.
Osaka held three match points at 5-3 in the second set but couldn’t close it out. She allowed Kvitova to come back and win 23 of 27 points to take that set and go up 1-0 in the third.
But Osaka regained her composure and her big-shot ability down the stretch, breaking to lead 2-1 with a cross-court backhand winner and holding on the rest of the way.
Osaka added this trophy to the one she collected by beating Serena Williams in a chaotic U.S. Open final last September.
Osaka is the first woman to win two major championships in a row since Williams picked up four straight in 2014-15.
___
9:32 p.m.
Petra Kvitova has leveled the Australian Open final at one-set all after saving three championship points against Naomi Osaka.
U.S. Open champion Osaka won the first set 7-6 (2) and had match points in the ninth game of the second. But Kvitova took the last four games of that set to take it 7-5.
___
8:38 p.m.
Naomi Osaka has won the first set 7-6 (2) in her Australian Open final against Petra Kvitova and is potentially one set from winning back-to-back major titles.
The U.S. Open champion 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.
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.
The winner at Melbourne Park will also move to No. 1 for the first time when the next women’s rankings are released.
___
7:45 p.m.
The women’s singles final between Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova has started, with the Australian championship and the No. 1 ranking at stake.
Osaka is serving first.
Neither player has ever won the title at Melbourne Park or been atop the WTA rankings.
U.S. Open champion Osaka is trying to win a second consecutive major. Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova hasn’t won a major since 2014.
___
6:25 p.m.
Top-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy survived a test of nerves to win the Australian boys’ singles title 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (12) over Emilio Nava of the United States.
Musetti watched five match points slip away in a third-set tiebreaker before he finally clinched his first major junior titles.
Musetti finally sealed the victory when Nava sent a forehand wide to end the 2-hours, 7-minute contest on Rod Laver Arena.
It continued the steady Grand Slam juniors progress of Musetti, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year and was runner-up in the U.S. Open.
Musetti had the bonus of getting his victory endorsed by Novak Djokovic shortly after the trophy presentation.
The pair crossed paths in a corridor beneath the main stadium after Djokovic had finished a practice session to prepare for Sunday’s men’s final.
“He just said congratulations. He knew that I lost in the final in New York, so he told me ‘you have a good mental trainer,'” Musetti said. “I just said ‘I learned from you.’ I gave him, like, a good luck for the final.”
No. 13-seeded Nava had chances to win the title when he led 8-7 and 12-11 in the tiebreaker.
Ivan Lendl watched the final from his Nava’s player box, and later presented the trophy to Musetti.
For Nava, his first time past the second round at a major was an important experience.
“It felt really fun,” he said of the tiebreaker, “but kind of didn’t move my feet as much, started shanking a little more.”
___
6 p.m.
Dylan Alcott has won his fifth Australian Open quad wheelchair singles title with a 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory over David Wagner of the United States on Rod Laver Arena.
It was a seventh Grand Slam quad wheelchair title for the 28-year-old Alcott, who also beat Wagner in last year’s U.S. Open final.
Wagner, a six-time Grand Slam quad wheelchair titlist, rallied from 5-2 down in the second set before Alcott dominated the tiebreaker.
Alcott is a popular figure in Australia as a multi-sport Paralympic gold medalist who regularly appears on television and in advertising for one the Australian Open’s sponsors.
“I remember I was 14 and I was lying in bed, and all I wanted to do was make it in the mainstream in some way,” Alcott told the crowd at Rod Laver Arena, the center court at Melbourne Park. “I wanted to show that people with disability can be elite at what they do. This match was broadcast into every single TV in Australia. That meant a lot to me.”
Alcott thanked the crowd and said it was a great way to celebrate Australia Day, the national holiday.
“It’s been great for me, but I want it to be great for a lot more people than just me.”
___
5:30 p.m.
Top-seeded Clara Tauson of Denmark has beaten fourth-seeded Leylah Annie Fernandez of Canada 6-4, 6-3 to win the girls’ title at the Australian Open.
Tauson said she was inspired by Caroline Wozniacki’s run to the Australian Open title last year, which was the Danish player’s breakthrough at a Grand Slam tournament.
“I’ve practiced with her,” Tauson said. “She’s a big inspiration for everyone in Denmark playing tennis and other sports.”
Tauson has won 12 straight junior matches since her exit at the U.S. Open girls’ tournament in the round of 32.
Fernandez reached the semifinals at the French Open junior tournament last year and the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open.
_____
5 p.m.
Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova meet in the Australian Open final with a championship and the No. 1 ranking at stake.
Neither has ever won the title at Melbourne Park or been atop the WTA rankings.
Saturday’s matchup is also the first time they have played against each other.
Osaka is trying to win a second consecutive major trophy to go along with the one she earned at the U.S. Open last September. She also would be the first player from Japan to be No. 1.
Kvitova seeks her third Grand Slam title — and the first since she was stabbed in the hand by an intruder at her home in the Czech Republic a little more than two years ago.
___
More AP Tennis: https://www.apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
