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Controversy reigns in women's final as del Potro and Djokovic get set for men's championship showdown

Roar Guru
9th September, 2018
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Roar Guru
9th September, 2018
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There has been huge controversy in the US Open women’s final, with Naomi Osaka defeating Serena Williams in one of the most dramatic Grand Slam finals seen in recent memory.

After Osaka, who’d beaten the American in their only previous meeting at Miami earlier this year, took the opening set 6-2, Williams received a code violation for alleged coaching from Patrick Mouratoglou, who admitted post-match that he did give some form of coaching to her.

She then copped another violation, this time for racquet abuse, meaning she started the sixth game of the second set down 0-15.

Another violation followed after Osaka broke in the next game for *4-3 in the second set, gifting her an extra game and seeing her one step closer to winning her first Grand Slam title.

Williams, who missed last year’s tournament as she gave birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian, regained her composure to hold for 4-5* before the Japanese served it out to 15 to become the first person from her country, and first from Asia since Li Na in 2014, to win a Grand Slam singles title.

The post-match ceremony then descended into chaos after Williams refused to shake the umpire’s hand post-match, drawing boos from the parochial New York crowd.

The American, who again missed the chance to equal Margaret Court on 24 Grand Slam singles titles, pleaded with the crowd to stop the booing.

“I don’t want to be rude but I don’t want to do questions. Naomi played well. This is her first Grand Slam,” she said.

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“Let’s not boo anymore. Congratulations Naomi! No more booing! Thank you to my team, you guys are amazing.”

As for Naomi Osaka, her victory at the US Open completes a stunning twelve-month period which started with her upsetting defending champion Angelique Kerber in the first round at Flushing Meadows.

She has also gone on to defeat the likes of Maria Sharapova, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep and Serena Williams, and with her latest achievement will rise to a career-high ranking of seven in the world.

However, given the circumstances, this is probably not how she will want to remember winning her first Grand Slam title.

Similarly, in 2011, Samantha Stosur’s title win was also overshadowed by Williams’ second-set outburst towards umpire Eva Asderaki, whereby she was pinged for shouting “come on” after the ball had even landed on the line.

But who could beat her infamous outburst towards a line judge in the 2009 semi-final against Kim Clijsters?

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Back on topic now, and Osaka said that while it was a dream to play her idol in a Grand Slam final, she was able to overcome a crowd that were clearly cheering on their national hero:

“I know everyone was cheering for her (Serena) and I am sorry it had to end like this.” she said.

“It was always my dream to play [her] in the US Open finals so I am really glad I was able to do that. I am really grateful I could play with you. Thank you.”

The result means that eight different women have won the past Grand Slam tournaments; by contrast, there have been eight different men’s champions in the past 57 Major tournaments dating back to Wimbledon in 2004.

Women’s championship result: [20] Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated [17] Serena Williams (USA) 6-2, 6-4.

Naomi Osaka

(Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for USTA)

Meanwhile, the stage is set for what should be a thrilling finish to the US Open, with Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic to face off in what many are already anticipating as one of the great championship matches seen at Flushing Meadows.

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Nine years after winning his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in stunning fashion, in which he upset Roger Federer in five sets in the final, del Potro, soon to turn 30, is back in a Major final for the first time since then, having had to endure more than anyone could in the intervention.

A right wrist injury first suffered in the early part of 2010 saw him abort his US Open title defence, to the point where by the time he returned to competition in early 2011, his world ranking had dropped to No.485.

And so began the long road back to the top, with the Argentine finishing the year just outside the top 10 and being named the ATP Comeback Player of the Year.

He then enjoyed a solid patch of form, reaching the quarter-finals of three of the four Majors and winning the Bronze Medal at the London Olympics in 2012, and reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2013.

But just after he re-matched his then-career high ranking of number four after winning the Sydney International in January 2014, his wrist injury woes returned, this time to his left one, and he would spend the better part of the next two years recuperating on the sidelines.

Del Potro then launched another comeback, his crowning moment coming at the Rio Olympics in 2016 where he won the Silver Medal after losing to Andy Murray in the championship match.

He’d earlier beaten Novak Djokovic in the first round, and then Rafael Nadal in three sets in the semi-final.

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Twelve months later, he returned to the semi-finals of the US Open where he lost to Nadal in four sets, this being his best result in New York since capturing the title in 2009.

Flash forward to now and the Argentine is back into a Major final for the first time in nine years, his path there seeing him defeat three Americans along the way, including eleventh seed John Isner, to whom he dropped his first set of the tournament, in the quarter-finals.

He advanced to the championship match after Nadal, the defending champion, was forced to retire after going two sets to love down due to a knee injury.

It was the second time the Spaniard was forced to retire from a Grand Slam match this year after pulling the pin against Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January.

It was also the second time the 32-year-old was forced to abort the defence of a Major title by way of a mid-match retirement; he also couldn’t defend titles at Wimbledon in 2009 and the US Open in 2014 due to pre-tournament injuries.

In his second Major final, del Potro will face Novak Djokovic, who has also embarked on a comeback of his own after an elbow injury saw him miss the second half of last season, dropping out of the world’s top 20 in the process.

After an underwhelming first half of the season, the Serb, then ranked 21st in the world, rediscovered his best form to win his fourth Wimbledon title and 13th Major title overall, defeating Kevin Anderson in the final.

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The Djoker then created history as he became the first man in tennis history to achieve the Golden Masters Slam, defeating Roger Federer in the final of the Cincinnati Masters in the lead-up to the US Open.

He arrived at Flushing Meadows as one of the favourites for the title, and after a shaky start, dropping one set in each of his first two matches, the Serb has gone on a roll, not dropping another set on his way to reaching his eighth final in the Big Apple.

This included a straight-sets win over Kei Nishikori, the same man who’d upset the Serb on his way to reaching the final in 2014.

History beckons for the Serb, who has the chance to equal Pete Sampras on as many Grand Slam titles (fourteen) and see him trail only Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (20 and 17 respectively) on the Grand Slam leaderboard.

That’s what’s ahead for both Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic as we get set to crown the final Grand Slam champion for 2018. Here is the all-important information you need to know ahead of Monday morning’s US Open men’s final.

[3] Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) vs [6] Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Sunday, September 9
4:00pm local time (6:00am AEST Monday September 10)
Arthur Ashe Stadium

Head-to-head
All matches: Djokovic 14-4
All finals: Djokovic 1-0
At Grand Slams: Djokovic 4-0
At the US Open: Djokovic 2-0

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Last meeting: Djokovic won 6-1, 6-4, quarter-finals, 2017 Rome Masters.

Juan Martin del Potro’s road to the final
Round 1: defeated Donald Young (USA) 6-0, 6-3, 6-4
Round 2: defeated Denis Kudla (USA) 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)
Round 3: defeated [31] Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
Round 4: defeated [20] Borna Coric (CRO) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1
Quarter-finals: defeated [11] John Isner (USA) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
Semi-finals: defeated [1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 0-0 ret.

Novak Djokovic’s road to the final
Round 1: defeated Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
Round 2: defeated Tennys Sandgren (USA) 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2
Round 3: defeated [26] Richard Gasquet (FRA) 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
Round 4: defeated Joao Sousa (POR) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
Quarter-finals: defeated John Millman (AUS) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Semi-finals: defeated [21] Kei Nishikori (JPN) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

The stats that matter
* This will be Novak Djokovic’s 23rd Grand Slam final (13-9), and eighth at the US Open (2-5), while for Juan Martin del Potro (1-0) this will be his second on both fronts.
* Djokovic is going for his 14th Grand Slam title, which would see him equal Pete Sampras on as many titles and see him trail only Roger Federer (20) and Rafael Nadal (17) on the men’s Grand Slam leaderboard. Del Potro, meantime, is going for his second Grand Slam title, having won the 2009 US Open.
* This will be their fifth meeting at a Grand Slam, and third at the US Open, but this will be just their second meeting in a championship match.
* del Potro is the seventh different opponent (after Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Kevin Anderson) that Djokovic has faced in a Grand Slam final, and fifth at the US Open.
* Djokovic is 0-3 against opponents he has faced in a Grand Slam final for the first time (Federer at the 2007 US Open, Nadal at the 2010 US Open and Wawrinka at the 2015 French Open).
* Moreover, he also lost to Andy Murray the first time he faced him at the tournament (the 2012 final).
* Del Potro is aiming to end the longest drought between winning his first Grand Slam title and his second (nine years).
* Del Potro is aiming to become the second active man outside of tennis’ Big Four (namely Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray) to hold multiple Grand Slam titles. The other is Stan Wawrinka, who has won three Majors.
* No man has ever won a Grand Slam title after defeating both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the same run.

Prediction
Novak Djokovic in five sets.

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