World number four Naomi Osaka defeated world number one Ashleigh Barty in the final of the China Open.
Naomi lost the world number one ranking to Australian Ashleigh Barty earlier in the year and the contest between the two future of women tennis did not disappoint in expectations.
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Osaka has won 10 straight matches since losing in the round of 16 at the US Open including the Pan Pacific tournament.
Barty, 23, forced Osaka, 21 into three double faults in the sixth game to claim the first set.
Osaka remarked; “In this tournament, I was not calm as I normally am. I threw my racquet at least once every match.” “I felt like I had something to prove.”
“I was telling myself to keep fighting even though my attitude was really trash,” Osaka added. “I just really wanted to win here.”
Barty was quite a challenge for Naomi that at some points in the match she threw her racket out of frustration but her resolve was greater than her frustration.
But despite seeming frustrated, the Japanese applied pressure early in the second set and eventually broke serve in the sixth game to level the match.
She repeated the feat in the first game of the decider, and did so again to take a 5-2 lead – before sealing victory on her second match point.