Australian Open 2021 day 11, semi-finals: Naomi Osaka v Serena Williams – live!
Naomi #Naomi
11.32pm EST 23:32
Naomi Osaka beats Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4
A hold of serve will do the trick. Osaka knows it too, by the look of the way she is bouncing at the baseline, readying to serve and making no mistakes this time. An ace precedes three more successful points and Osaka is the first through to the final of the women’s singles. There is clearly a lot of respect behind the pair as they meet at the net but the road ends here for Williams.
Updated at 11.34pm EST
11.31pm EST 23:31
Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 5-4 Serena Williams* Hasn’t this taken a turn. But wait, for Osaka has landed a superb backhand near the service line and is up 0-30. Williams falls prey to a double fault this time and no sooner has she delivered her next serve Osaka is dictating play, running the American about and sealing this break to love with an acutely angled backhand.
11.27pm EST 23:27
Second set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 4-4 Serena Williams Oh my, two double faults. It’s 0-40 and Williams has three break points. Convert one and she will restore parity. The first goes begging and so does the second when Osaka serve-volleys and forces a back-foot lob from Williams that is closer to the moon than the court. Osaka double faults again. Yikes, that’s three in one game. Her face says nothing but also everything. If blank stares could kill.
Updated at 11.28pm EST
11.23pm EST 23:23
Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 4-3 Serena Williams* Williams obliges with a service game to haunt the dreams of any in her way (12% of men, in particular), and drops one point en route to a hold.
Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha writes in: “Osaka has control over her emotions and she doesn’t consider herself as winner before the match,” he emails. “Serena loses control over her emotions.”
11.19pm EST 23:19
Second set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 4-2 Serena Williams Speaking of the other semi-finalists, Brady and Muchova are already warming up as if this could be over quite soon. And it might be, for Osaka holds comfortably and wraps up the game with an ace. Williams needs to find something or her quest for a 24th grand slam singles title will slip away.
11.16pm EST 23:16
Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 3-2 Serena Williams* The commentators are wondering whether Serena is second-guessing herself because she is treating this like a final rather than a semi-final. It is true that the other semi-finalists, Jennifer Brady and Karolína Muchová, are less experienced. There is also THAT US Open final, the one that shall not be named. But Williams is on the run here, both literally and figuratively speaking, and wins her service game with just one dropped point.
11.12pm EST 23:12
Second set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 3-1 Serena Williams A half-volley has caught Osaka on the hop and she’s not in the right position, too close to lift it over the net. But she will not retreat. After all, she is maybe the biggest striker of the ball in women’s tennis. Williams is becoming frustrated with her inability to take control, shaking her head and lifting her eyes skyward in smiling vexation. Osaka double faults, but atones with a winner.
11.08pm EST 23:08
Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 2-1 Serena Williams* Were we talking about serving just now? It’s chalk and cheese on Rod Laver Arena. Cheese tastes nicer than chalk, so we’ll call Williams’s serve a nice piece of Mersey Valley. This is what will fuel her comeback and it the main reason she holds here, with an ace and another to follow Osaka can barely get her racket to.
11.05pm EST 23:05
Second set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 2-0 Serena Williams A “sorry” rings out as Osaka’s ball toss goes awry and she makes the second, but Williams, who has been allowing her counterpart quite a bit of leeway with shots through the middle of the court, whips a return down the line. Given Osaka is landing only 41% of her first serves this is a frailty there for the taking. A hold consolidates Osaka’s position.
11.02pm EST 23:02
Second set: Naomi Osaka 6-3 1-0 Serena Williams* Williams needs to rein in the unforced errors. They are racking up too quickly and offsetting the stronger elements of her game. To a certain extent, Osaka has been guilty of this too, but she is making her backhand count, one of which secures a third break of Serena’s serve. My my.
10.57pm EST 22:57
First set: Naomi Osaka* 6-3 Serena Williams Osaka is muttering to herself now. She’s at the baseline, up 30-0, releasing that high ball and faulting. Never mind, one more in the bank. The second serve is straight in the net. This is the inconsistency letting down both players, evidenced in the very next point when Osaka lands a first serve that rebounds off Williams’s frame and goes one 10th of nowhere. Osaka is on the front foot now and the ball is at her forehand, then travelling back the other way with enough vigour to close out the set.
10.53pm EST 22:53
First set: Naomi Osaka 5-3 Serena Williams* Say what you like, Serena has a serve to singe the hairs off your nose. I know everybody keeps banging on about her age but I’m sort of on that bandwagon, because the 39-year-old has just thrown down a brutal ace. She is leading 30-0 and under pressure to stay in this set. She cedes one point and holds.
10.51pm EST 22:51
First set: Naomi Osaka* 5-2 Serena Williams This is turning into a bit of a clinic. That confidence plastered across Serena’s face in those opening two games has undergone some sort of transference to the other end of the court, where Osaka has rediscovered the mettle that got her to the semi-finals in the first place. She leads 30-0. She aces. Williams makes her 15th unforced error and Osaka has recovered to claim five consecutive games.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka. Photograph: Brandon Malone/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 10.56pm EST
10.48pm EST 22:48
First set: Naomi Osaka 4-2 Serena Williams* Shot! That backhand passing shot is exquisite and duly gives Osaka two break points. She had Williams, 16 years her senior, harrying and hassling, then stretching in vein for a deep crosscourt shot the American lays on a platter for the winner. One forehand winner later and she has a second break!
10.44pm EST 22:44
First set: Naomi Osaka* 3-2 Serena Williams The first set is back on serve and Osaka is keen to keep it that way even if her first serve is not. Williams is wise to the wide second serve and she is turning rallies back onto the reigning US Open champion. Osaka saves two break points and while she does well to hold from deuce, part of can be attributed to mistakes from Williams when she had the upper hand.
10.38pm EST 22:38
First set: Naomi Osaka 2-2 Serena Williams* This is the sting we’ve been been waiting for from Osaka. She’s biting back, striking the ball at shoulder height as Serena tries to hit her where it hurts with that intimidating top spin. At deuce, Williams appears set for an advantage when her shot fortuitously catches the net and pops over but Osaka is there and the ball has whirred past her opponent before she knows which move to make next. Osaka converts her break point and this contest is starting to offer some of the intrigue it promised.
Serena Williams feels the heat on Rod Laver Arena. Photograph: Paul Crock/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 10.58pm EST
10.30pm EST 22:30
First set: Naomi Osaka* 1-2 Serena Williams Osaka has the advantage and finally gets herself on the scoreboard. This game has see-sawed a little with a few unforced errors in the mix. And the Japanese star double faults. She’s nervy, a little flustered. But a signature ace sees her through.
10.25pm EST 22:25
First set: Naomi Osaka 0-2 Serena Williams* Osaka has clearly not yet found a rhythm. Perhaps more accurately, she hasn’t been given a chance for Williams is the aggressor in pursuit of a 30th grand slam final and 24th singles title, racing to 40-0 via a rally that ends with a smash. An unforced error gifts Osaka a lifeline but this is the only error.
10.22pm EST 22:22
First set: Naomi Osaka* 0-1 Serena Williams What an opening game from Williams. Osaka is serving with power but the American is matching and raising her. She has two break points and needs only one. What an early statement.
10.14pm EST 22:14
And here they are (courtesy also of a quick refresh of my feed), being introduced and warming up. Not long to go.
Naomi Osaka emerges into the sunlight on Rod Laver Arena. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
Updated at 10.18pm EST
10.11pm EST 22:11
Well the players are still yet to emerge at centre court despite it being past 2pm. We can see via the broadcast feed the are warming up in the changerooms below.
9.55pm EST 21:55
And here is something reading while you wait to tickle your tastebuds ahead of tonight’s match between Novak Djokovic and THAT Russian qualifier named Aslan. He also has a surname, Karatsev, but he honestly doesn’t need it.
9.53pm EST 21:53
For those who did not watch the 2018 US Open final, this pair have endured controversy while on the court together. In that decider at Flushing Meadows, where Williams, having received three pivotal code violations, called the chair umpire a “thief” and imploded in the second set while Osaka held her nerve to win. Williams then had to stop fans booing throughout Osaka’s trophy ceremony.
Of course, that was basically the first thing Williams was asked after beating Simona Halep in the quarterfinals Tuesday, and only had praise for Osaka.
“I’ve been watching her and I’m sure she’s been watching me, and I feel like this is such a good opportunity for me to keep doing my best,” she said.
The pair have faced each other in the interim, with Williams beating Osaka emphatically in Toronto in 2019.
In other words, this could be anyone’s.
9.43pm EST 21:43
It is picture perfect at Melbourne Park today. The temperature is around 30C, kept in check by a gentle breeze rustling the leaves in the stately gum trees beside court 5. In Garden Square attendees are lounging beside a puttering fountain. There is a relaxed holiday mood around the precinct following the five-day lockdown.
For the first time this event there are attendees milling freely around the grounds. The three walled zones have been removed with only two venues now in use for the business end of the tournament. Instead, crowds are capped each session at 7,477. Most of those for this daylight portion are about to enter Rod Laver Arena for the women’s semi-final between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams.
Fans! Actual tennis fans. Photograph: Andy Brownbill/AP
Updated at 10.11pm EST
9.42pm EST 21:42
Preamble
The sun is shining. The mercury’s hovering around the 30C mark. There are no new locally-acquired Covid cases in Victoria once again. And crowds have been allowed back into Melbourne Park for the first time in five days of empty stands. You could say that things are pretty sweet at the Australian Open on day 11 of the year’s first grand slam. How could things possibly get any better? What’s that, you say? A mouthwatering women’s semi-final featuring two of the best and most entertaining players on the planet? Oh lordy, yes please.
Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka are first up on Rod Laver Arena today, where they will scrap it out for a place in Saturday’s final. Williams, of course, is chasing a record-equalling 24th grand slam title and has given every indication so far in Melbourne that this could well be the tournament where she finally draws level with Margaret Court.
But there’s a sizeable obstacle in her way in the form of Osaka, who has equally been in top form and looks capable of adding a fourth grand slam title to her burgeoning collection. It’s a potential classic in the making. Do not go anywhere.
Hot on their heels are Jennifer Brady and Karolína Muchová, in what is, it’s fair to say, a far less widely anticipated encounter, although one that is none the less intriguing. And rounding off the day’s play this evening is men’s No 1 Novak Djokovic and Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev.
Strap yourselves in. And do get in touch if you like; email emma.kemp@theguardian.com or tweet @emmavkemp.