Osaka reaches Australian Open final, closing in on world No. 1 ranking

Naomi has won the Australian open and beat Petra Kavitova in the final today . Congratulations Naomi for your victory.

Love that look on her face.

What's with all the nationality comments? For whatever reason (stupidity ranks high), the players have to have a national flag next to their names in these tournaments. My Osaka-born kids would face the same problem.

She is who she is. Name Osaka, born Osaka, young, beautiful, and winning.

Naomi-chan played really well. I hope she will play like first set she played today on Saturday with Kvitova. I hope she will win the Australian Open championship on Saturday. Naomi-chan is better and better. Well done Naomi-chan.

Well done Naomi , you are destined to succeed and win the championship Keep it up .

Great job Naomi.

Amazing, she is only 21, virtually unknown 1 year ago, and now on the verge of becoming No. 1 female tennis player in the world!

I know, right!? Did she have many fans when she was starting out?

I know absolutely beans about tennis but I'm really happy for her. Don't know what else to say. Always nice when great athletes are also likable people!

That's a wonderful shot. Captures her joy really well.

1 more to go.

I see in Osaka a great young tennis player. So good for the game to have fresh stars in the making.

Come on Nao Chan! Hoping she will become the first Japanese tennis player to win 2 GS titles!

Congrats on the big win. One to go - but it'll be tough.

And to those who think she's come from nowhere - well to real tennis fans she's been on the radar for years.

Most sports fans are not die-hards, just fairweather, latching onto any fad or fame that blows.

Naomi was a super teenager who has just naturally morphed into a super adult player.

In fact she made the 3rd or 4th round of this same Australian Open in 2016 as an 18year old.

I've been following her for at least 5 years - since she beat Sam Stosur in 2014.

She'll be winning for a while yet.

She's got a vicious serve. It's tough beating someone with that kind of serve. Also, her volleys were a lot stronger and faster than Pliskova's.

Osaka made quite a few unforced errors. If she gets that under control she'll take the final.

@kohakuebisu: Agreed! She handled herself well when Serena disgraced herself permanently in front of the world by throwing a tantrum in the US Opens. Her reputation stained forever and cannot be unseen

Back-to-back grand slam finals, well done Osaka! Still early days but it seems she's a big-games player, mentally tough & doesn't crumble under pressure.

She is also very consistent and can whack out big winners when she wants to attack. She is in fact so good at tennis that I would doubt there is very much extra commercial benefit to her being Japanese. A young new World Number 1 who's level-headed and speaks well in interviews, even when her opponent has descended into histrionics, will be a huge commercial proposition regardless of nationality.

Well done. She’s now my all time favourite Japanese player together with Date!!

GRANDSLAM it Naomi!

Well done to her.

Well done Naomi chan, win the finals too.

Unbelievable! GO GO Naomi-chan! Win the Major and get that Number 1 rank! I can see Naomi-chan dominate for many years, if she keeps fit and no injuries. Great photo, she looks so happy!

Good for her!

I would also propose that it was also a big win for Haitian tennis as her father is from Haiti .....

Incredibly well played by Naomi and hopefully she can keep up her form on Saturday! A big win for Japanese tennis!

Close game, but she won Ladbrokes have her at $2.10 and Kvitová $1.73, suppose that comes from her loss of focus is the second game.

Amazing, she is only 21, virtually unknown 1 year ago, and now on the verge of becoming No. 1 female tennis player in the world! And already the most successful Japanese (if not asian) tennis player ever. Congratulations, and good luck on Saturday!