Tennis
Naomi Osaka is rolling once more.
Twenty months into her tennis comeback after giving birth to her first child, Osaka is back where she wants to be, playing in the finals of a big-time tournament, riding those big, booming shots off the ground to win after win.
Wednesday night at the Canadian Open in Montreal, Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion who hasn’t won a tournament since the Australian Open in 2021, had her way with Clara Tauson of Denmark early and outslugged her late to win 6-2, 7-6(7) to make her first final of a tour event since January in New Zealand.
The only wobbles from Osaka came in the second set, when she was on the cusp of a 6-2, 5-2 lead that would have felt nearly insurmountable given how cleanly she’d been striking the ball all evening. But after a couple of errors on game points, Osaka’s first serve grew shaky and Tauson was able to smack her way back into the match. A game later, Tauson had knotted the set, and then on they went to the tiebreak.
