The Australian Open women’s singles tournament comes to a close on Saturday bright and early in the morning. The finals air on ESPN and Watch ESPN live at 3:30 a.m. ET. If you are not inclined to wake up that early, ESPN’s network of channels will re-air the finals three separate times.
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This is the fourth time Osaka and Brady will face off, with Osaka leading the all-time series 2-1. Brady won the first match between the two with a straight sets victory on a hard court at the 50k New Braunfels, TX back in 2014. Osaka then beat her in straight sets in the round of 64 at the 2018 Volvo Car open. Their most recent matchup was in the semifinals of the 2020 US Open. Osaka beat her in three sets en route to winning the Grand Slam.
Osaka is a sizable favorite in this match over at DraftKings Sportsbook. She is installed at -480 while Brady is +370. Osaka heads into the match getting 81 percent of the handle on all betting and 75 percent of total bets.
World No. 3 Naomi Osaka will go up against World No. 22 Jennifer Brady on Saturday (February 20) for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in the Australian Open 2021 final at the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. The pair went head-to-head thrice before today's epic encounter in which Osaka is presently leading by 2-1.
This is expected to be a high-voltage contest between the duo, whose path to the final is not at all an easy cake-walk. Osaka is in red-hot form and holds a 20-match winning streak overall. She beat Serena Williams, one of the GOATs in the Women's division, comprehensively in the semi-finals with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-4. The Japanese is the clear favourite against Brady in the final at Rod Laver Arena.
Brady, on the other hand, is going to experience the first Grand-Slam final of her young career. The American reached US Open semi-final last year and faced Osaka. Unfortunately, Brady could not able to take her place in the summit clash due to the Japanese's resiliency and determination on the court. Brady had a nerve-racking battle against Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals but showed plenty of courage before she secured the victory with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 scoreline.
Osaka has shown her consistency in big stages in the past couple of years but it will definitely be a fairytale story if Brady gets the better of the Japanese in the final and takes the winners' trophy with her. The 25-year-old becomes the eighth USA player to reach the final of a singles major in the 21st century.