In a tale of four matches, Osaka edges Kontaveit to reach W&S semis

You’ve heard of a tale of two cities. That’s nothing compared to what we saw on Court 17 at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday. Naomi Osaka’s 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Anett Kontaveit at the Western & Southern Open was a tale of four entirely different matches.

The first of them lasted until Kontaveit led 6-4, 2-0, and had reached break point on Osaka’s serve at 30-40. During those 12 games, Kontaveit took Osaka, who had been playing some of the best tennis of anyone in the opening rounds, completely out of her game. Using the faster-than-normal courts to her advantage, Kontaveit backed Osaka up by hitting her returns deep and down the middle. She served to all three of her spots—down the T, out wide, and into the body—with accuracy and variety. She threw up slow, high balls and followed them with hard-hit shots into the corners. She didn’t let Osaka get in the first strike in rallies. By the time Kontaveit was up a set and a break, this recap writer had his headline: “Anett Kontaveit showed off her underrated tactical smarts, and quietly made herself her case as a US Open threat.”

Kontaveit got off to a roaring start on Wednesday, leading by a set and a break. (Getty Images)

That’s when the second match began. It started with Osaka behind 0-2, 30-40; in other words, one more missed shot from trailing by a double break and probably going down to defeat. In her previous two matches, Osaka had been upbeat, aggressive and determined; today she came out flat emotionally, and she played like it.

But as so often happens in a deficit, Osaka finally seemed to decide she had nothing to lose, and that freed her hitting arm up. She cracked an ace down the T to save break point, hit her best crosscourt backhand of the day on the next point, and held. With that one ace, Osaka was off to the races, and the rallies had turned 180 degrees. Now it was Osaka who was proactive, who was getting in that first strike, who was prevailing the long rallies. She won the next nine games to lead 4-5, 6-2, 3-0.

She was hardly upbeat—“I was still saying a lot of bad things to myself,” she admitted later—but she was winning anyway. My new headline went something like this: “Naomi Osaka showed why her power is like an ace that’s always up her sleeve, and that it can help her win even on a bad day.”

But Osaka's superior talent, including the easy power behind her serve, allowed her to recover. (Getty Images)

The second match lasted until Osaka led 4-2 in the third set. At 15-30, she hit a strong wide serve, moved into to finish the point with a swing volley, and shanked it into the net. All of her momentum went out of her sails with that shot. She was broken on a backhand unforced error, and when Kontaveit saved a break point to make it 4-4, Osaka let out a shriek of frustration.

Then, at 4-4, the fourth and best match of the day began. Now both women were hitting hard and deep, and playing with resolve. Osaka smacked a backhand winner and held for 5-4. Kontaveit held from 0-30 down for 5-5. Osaka threw down a love hold for 6-5. And in what turned out to be the final game, Osaka came back from 40-15 down, hit two forehand winners, and won it on her second match point.

How did Osaka turn it around?

“I just started thinking about how bad my attitude was, when I chose to come here,” she said.

WATCH—Osaka's full post-match interview:

Maybe that should be my final headline: “If you’re going to play in a pandemic, you might as well give it all you’ve got.”

Osaka will do it again tomorrow against Elise Mertens in the semis. We’ll see if she can make it a little less complicated than she did today.