Naomi Osaka, 22, defeated Victoria Azarenka, 31, Saturday to claim her second U.S. Open tennis title in three years. The match took place before a nearly empty Arthur Ashe Stadium, a mark of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s the Japanese player’s third Grand Slam overall, having won the 2018 U.S. Open and the 2019 Australian Open back to back. Azarenka took the first set six games to one, but Osaka rallied in the second and third, winning both six to three. Osaka has worn face masks bearing the names of Black victims of police brutality throughout the tournament, and she said in an interview following the match, “The point is to make people start talking...The more retweets it gets, even though that’s so lame, the more people talk about it.” The Belarussian player congratulated her opponent afterwards, “I thought the third time was the charm, but I guess I’m going to have to try again. Congratulations, Naomi.”
