The 22-year-old Japanese tennis star battled back from a set down against her Belarusian opponent ,31, to lift her second US Open title in three years with a 1-6 6-3 6-3 victory at Flushing Meadows.
“I just thought it would be very embarrassing to lose this in under an hour,” Osaka said, explaining that she told herself to “stop having a really bad attitude.”
“I always see everyone sort of collapse after match point, but I always think you may injure yourself, so I wanted to do it safely,” she explained.
Azarenka who defeated Serena William to set up the US Open final showdown with Naomi Osaka, said: “It’s not easy times in the world right now. So I’m very grateful for the opportunity to play in front of millions of people watching on TV, unfortunately not here.”
