By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday February 19, 2021
The 2021 Australian Open final is set and it has the makings of a classic. Anybody who watched Naomi Osaka defeat Jennifer Brady in three sets in the semifinals at last year’s Australian Open knows that. Brady, a 25-year-old American who has been absolutely brilliant in the last year, reached the final by notching a three-set victory over Karolina Muchova, while Osaka took down Serena Williams in rather stunning fashion on Thursday in Melbourne.
Let’s take a closer look inside the numbers to find out what’s at stake in this final…
20 Osaka enters the final with a 20-match winning streak that dates all the way back to last February. The Japanese star has been pretty unbelievable in that span, and she joins Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka as only the third player to carry a streak of 20 or more wins since 2010.
7 Brady is the seventh first-time Grand Slam finalist on the WTA Tour since the 2018 US Open. She joins Osaka, Marketa Vondrousova, Ashleigh Barty, Bianca Andreescu, Sofia Kenin and Iga Swiatek.
11-0 Osaka’s record in Grand Slam quarterfinals (4-0), semifinals (4-0) and finals (3-0) before this final. Osaka is bidding to become the first woman to win her first four Grand Slam finals played since Monica Seles in 1991. Seles went on to win her first six before finally losing a major final.
13 Osaka has won her last 13 deciders in Grand Slam play, and owns a lifetime record of 17-4 in third sets in Grand Slams. The World No.3 has done will in deciders as a rule, especially since 2019. She owns a 28-4 record in deciding sets since the start of 2019.
25 For the eighth time in the last nine majors, the women’s singles champion will be 25 years of age, or younger. Brady is 25 and Osaka is 23.
3 Three woman have won the Australian Open women’s singles title in the last seven years after saving match points during the tournament. Osaka, who saved a pair of match points to defeat Garbiñe Muguruza in the round of 16, is bidding to make it four of the last eight.
55 Brady is bidding to become the 55th women’s singles Grand Slam champion in the Open Era.
24 Brady is bidding to become the lowest-ranked Australian Open women’s singles champion at the Australian Open since No.81 Serena Williams in 2007.
3 Number of sets dropped by the two finalists, combined, in Australia. Brady dropped a set in the quarters against Jessica Pegula and a set in the semis against Karolina Muchova. Osaka dropped a set to Muguruza in the round of 16.
255 Nadia Podoroska’s ranking at the start of 2020. The Rosario, Argentina native will crack the Top 100 as a result of her quarterfinal in Paris.
12 2019 Australian Open champion Osaka is bidding to become the 12th woman to win multiple titles in Melbourne.
16 Osaka is bidding to become the 16th woman in Open Era history to claim more than three major titles, and the fourth active player (along with Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters) to do so.
12 Bracy can climb to a career-best ranking of 12 with the title. If she falls in the final she’ll rise to 13 in next week’s WTA rankings.