Australian Open 2021, women’s final as it happened: Naomi Osaka wins her fourth Major in style

4.15 pm: Thanks for tuning into our live coverage, we will leave you with the highlights of the match:

Moments from the presentation speeches here:

Naomi Osaka’s speech: The Japanese star is known for her entertaining, classy speeches and this was no different. Spends a good chunk appreciating Brady’s team and says her mother would be proud of the American tonight, and adds “here’s to more matches” between them. Thanks her team of course, and mentions what a privilege it is to be playing in a Grand Slam at times like these. Superb stuff from the Champion.

STAT: In a super tough draw, Naomi Osaka dropped ONE SET.

Naomi Osaka’s path to the title:

1st rd: bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 6-1, 6-2

2nd rd: bt Caroline Garcia (FRA) 6-2, 6-3

3rd rd: bt Ons Jabeur (TUN x27) 6-3, 6-2

4th rd: bt Garbine Muguruza (ESP x14) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

Quarter-final: bt Hsieh Su-wei (TPE) 6-2, 6-2

Semi-final: bt Serena Williams (USA x10) 6-3, 6-4

FINAL: bt Jennifer Brady (USA x22) 6-4, 6-3

Jennifer Brady’s speech: Thanks Osaka for being an inspiration to young girls. What a lovely touch.

With this win, Osaka:

 - wins her second straight Slam 

- extends her unbeaten run to 21

 - becomes the first player since Monica Seles to win her first four Major finals 

- becomes the first player since Maria Sharapova to win a fourth Major  

— Via Zenia D'Cunha

NAOMI OSAKA: Four-time Major champion! Some reactions here.

Naomi Osaka is now 4/4 in Grand Slam finals:   

2018 US Open - beat Serena Williams 

2019 Aus Open - beat Petra Kvitova 

 2020 US Open - beat Victoria Azarenka

2021 Aus Open - beat Jennifer Brady 

NAOMI OSAKA, FOUR-TIME MAJOR CHAMPION: We are well and truly in the Naomi Osaka era, folks. Four Major finals, four Major titles. What a record to have. Champion stuff

GAME, SET AND MATCH NAOMI OSAKA! Osaka 6-4, 6-3 Brady: A couple of errors from Brady at the start of a must-win game and Osaka gives herself a fist pump. Brady then goes too hard at a forehand and sends it way long! Three match points for Osaka and she needs just one! An unreturned serve and Osaka is champion again!

Osaka, now serving for the Australian Open title.

Second set, Osaka 6-4, 5-3 Brady: CRUCIAL HOLD! Osaka starts the game well with a backhand winner but Brady steadies herself to take the next two points. But a missed first serve, means she goes to 30-30 after pressure from Osaka on the groundstrokes. A superb 1-2 punch gives Brady a game point, and applause from Osaka! But it is then Osaka’s turn to pounce on a second serve and hit a scorching backhand winner. DEUCE! Brady then gets away with a second serve thanks to a return error from Osaka, and holds on.

Brady serving to stay in the match...

Second set, Osaka 6-4, 5-2 Brady: OSAKA HANGS ON TO HER LEAD! At 30-0, superb rally (longest of the match so far, we are told) with great ball-striking from both and Brady is celebrating the point after a forehand goes long from Osaka. But Osaka steadies herself tto go up 40-15 and then misses a close first serve. Great defence from Brady again, and again Osaka misses a forehand that hits the net chord and goes wide. Frustration for Brady though as she misses a forehand and lets out a scream! That should have been deuce, instead Osaka holds.

Second set, Osaka 6-4, 4-2 Brady: SERVICE HOLD! Just what the doctor ordered for Brady. A service hold to love. She stays in the hunt, she is pumping herself up.

Can Brady hold her serve? She needs momentum... she needs to find some easy points on her serve.

Second set, Osaka 6-4, 4-1 Brady: NOT QUITE DONE YET! Eyes rolled by Brady as if to ask where was this all the while as she forces a break point on Osaka’s serve. Then, after another deuce, Brady hits a superb backhand to force an error from Osaka and create another break point, which she converts! There is still life yet in the final.

STAT: At this point though, looks like there’s a clear winner at the end of this one.

Second set, Osaka 6-4, 4-0 Brady: ON FIRE! Naomi Osaka faced a break point on her serve at 4-4 in the opening game. Since that moment, she has done to win SIX GAMES IN A ROW. Naomi Osaka leads by a set and double break and Brady is struggling to keep her errors in control as the 3rd seed continues to attack.

Second set, Osaka 6-4, 3-0 Brady: FIVE GAMES IN A ROW FOR OSAKA! What a roll she is on. Just a hint of trouble when she made an error and double-faulted to give Brady a sniff at 40-30 but closes the game out with an ace.

Firs set key stats (Via WTA)

Osaka: 3 aces, 1 DF, 42% 1st serves, 77% 1st serves won, 56% 2nd serves won, 74% returns in, 2/3 on BP, 1/2 BP saved, 8W, 15 UFE. 

Brady: 2 aces, 4 DFs, 45% 1st serves, 65% 1st serves won, 43% 2nd serves won, 67% returns in, 1/2 BP won, 1/3 BP saved, 10W, 18UFE  

Second set, Osaka 6-4, 2-0 Brady: BREAK OF SERVE! A searing backhand winner from Osaka the highlight of that game as she gets a break of serve nice and early in the second set! She is dictating tempo now.

Second set, Osaka 6-4, 1-0 Brady: A solid service hold from the third seed. Just what she needed.

A summary of that first set: Both players struggled to get their first serves in (less than 45%), and there were not many easy service games as a result. Nearly same winner and errors count, so really nothing much to separate. Just a big couple of errors at a bad time from Brady.

First set, Osaka 6-4 Brady: OSAKA TAKES FIRST SET WITH A BREAK! And again, Brady finds herself under pressure after leading 40-15. The game goes to deuce with a double fault, her 4th! And a point later, she is facing set point. A STUNNING MISS AT THE NET. She misses a forehand that she would make perhaps 99 out of 100 times and that, folks, is pressure.

First set, Osaka 5-4 Brady: Amazing court coverage by Brady in that game to get a break point, as she plays a defensive shot from the baseline then runs all the way to the other corner of the court and lobs Osaka for a winner. She enjoyed that! Perhaps the highest quality of rallying we have seen so far in that game, and Osaka does enough to save one break point and hold on.

Zenia D’Cunha: First serves, yells Brady and finds exactly that to hold from a break point down in the crucial eighth game.

First set, Osaka 4-4 Brady: Super game. Both players starting to find their range now. Brady faced a break point at 30-40 but she fights back, takes the game into deuce three times and finally holds. An ace under pressure in that game from Brady, she really needed that. Her first serve numbers are very low at the moment, and she felt that in the game before finding it at the right moment.

Stat: Osaka is winning 82% of her first serve points at this stage, it’s really when she misses that first serve she is putting herself under pressure.

First set, Osaka 4-3 Brady: Osaka really needed that. She was under pressure again at 15-30 down after a couple of errors. But finds her range in time to hold serve from there.

First set, Osaka 3-3 Brady: And now Brady’s turn to hold at love! Well, well this is just starting to turn in the American’s favour.

First set, Osaka 3-2 Brady: BACK ON SERVE! A couple of backhand errors from Osaka gives Brady a brief window but the third seed recovers in some style. The first serves, when they land, are working like a treat for Osaka. But she misses a backhand at game point and Brady fights back to deuce. And now a double fault from Osaka gives Brady a break point! She nets a backhand after a longish rally, and Brady breaks back! What did we say about butterflies again? It’s a Grand Slam final after all.

First set, Osaka *3-1 Brady: Problems for Brady! A double fault and a backhand error and she is down 0-40 in no time. And double faults again to lose serve! Oh dear, plenty of nerves clearly. Of all the ways to lose serve, that’s got to sting.

First set, Osaka 2-1 Brady: So just one point dropped in the opening two service games. No butterflies for her, she controls the butterflies after all, if you know what we mean.

First set, Osaka 1-1 Brady: Nervy start, Brady! She too looked like she would hold to love by opening up a 40-0 lead but Osaka has other sides. Three errors from Brady and we have our first deuce game of the night. Osaska is returning strongly and forces a second deuce, but Brady follows that up with a strong serve. And a backhand error from Osaka gives the American a hold of serve.

First set, Osaka 1-0 Brady: Wow, that’s as lethal an opening serving game as Osaka could have dreamt of. No fuss, holds it to love and moves on.

First set, 0-0: Love-all, here we go! Osaka elected to serve after winning the toss.

As Naomi Osaka heads into her second Australian Open final, here’s a recap of how she won her first: a gritty three-set win over Naomi Osaka

The last time they played was another massive Grand Slam match – the US Open semi-finals – and it went down as one of the best in the truncated 2020 season. The US Open was a turning point for both players as Brady reached her first Major semi-final while Osaka began an unbeaten streak that has carried on and set forth her quiet determination she’s carrying into this final.

What will this match hold?

Road to the final

Naomi Osaka’s path to the final:

1st rd: bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 6-1, 6-2

2nd rd: bt Caroline Garcia (FRA) 6-2, 6-3

3rd rd: bt Ons Jabeur (TUN x27) 6-3, 6-2

4th rd: bt Garbine Muguruza (ESP x14) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

Quarter-final: bt Hsieh Su-wei (TPE) 6-2, 6-2

Semi-final: bt Serena Williams (USA x10) 6-3, 6-4

Jennifer Brady’s path to the final:

1st rd: bt Aliona Bolsova (ESP) 6-1, 6-3

2nd rd: bt Madison Brengle (USA) 6-1, 6-2

3rd rd: bt Kaja Juvan (SLO) 6-1, 6-3

4th rd: bt Donna Vekic (CRO x28) 6-1, 7-5

Quarter-final: bt Jessica Pegula (USA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Semi-final: bt Karolina Muchova (CZE x25) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Head-to-head

Osaka leads Brady 2-1, with their last match being a three-set epic in the US Open semi-finals (see video)

2020 US Open (semi-final): Osaka bt Brady 7-6 (7/1), 3-6, 6-3

2018 Charleston (R64): Osaka bt Brady 6-4, 6-4

2014 New Braunfels (R32): Brady bt Osaka 6-4, 6-4

Hello and welcome to the live blog for the women’s singles final at the Australian Open.

Naomi Osaka takes her perfect record in Grand Slam deciders into the final where she will attempt to make it four out of four in finals against America’s Jennifer Brady, who is playing her first final. Will we see another first-time Major champion in women’s tennis or will Osaka become the first player since Maria Sharapova in 2012 to win a fourth singles Grand Slam?