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September 12, 2020,
When the new kid on the professional tennis block comes this far, with such dazzling power, the question often asked, as she knocks down one seeded domino after another, is this one.
Is she for real?
Define for real.
Getting to the 2020 US Open Quarterfinals without dropping a set is very, for real. Even the once, world’s number one player, and winner of three Grand Slam tournaments, in Germany’s Angelique Kerber, couldn’t take a set off of her.
Jennifer is an American professional tennis star and current world’s number 41st ranked player.
Jennifer made her WTA debut at the 2014 US Open, having received a wild card with Samantha Crawford in the doubles tournament. Brady has won one WTA singles title, and four singles titles and five doubles titles on the ITF circuit.
Our American luminary first rose to prominence following her surprise run to the fourth round of the 2017 Australian Open as a qualifier, registering victories over Heather Watson and 14th seed Elena Vesnina. She also reached the fourth round of that year’s US Open, defeating Barbora Strýcová and Monica Niculescu before falling to then-world No. 1 Karolína Plíšková.
In 2020, she defeated Maria Sharapova, and recorded her first No. 1 victory by defeating Ashleigh Barty at Brisbane, and defeated Elina Svitolina, Markéta Vondroušová, and Garbiñe Muguruza at Dubai.
She won her first WTA singles title at the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky, where she defeated Jil Teichmann in straight sets.
Sounds very real to us.
At this year’s US Open, Jennifer was seeded 28th despite being ranked 41st in the world, due to the number of top 20 players who pulled out of the tournament.
She defeated Anna Blinkova, CiCi Bellis and Caroline Garcia in straight sets, before defeating 2016 champion and former World No. 1 Angelique Kerber to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
She then recorded another straight sets win over the 23rd seed Yulia Putintseva to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal, where she would meet super star Naomi Osaka.
What a breath taking, heart pounding match it would turn out to be.
Let’s go courtside.
Coming into the semi-finals, Naomi has played some tough matches including going to three sets against the surprisingly tough Marta Kostyuk. That was a barn burner until Marta tapped out in the third and went away.
Jennifer is a former star at UCLA and has been in myriads of tough matches herself.
She’s not going to tap out in any set.
Time to start.
Naomi serves well, wins all four points including a crushing forehead. Leads 1-0.
Jennifer is playing great and crushing forehands herself. It’s all about the serve and first shot because both players are dominant when they do those things so well.
Something odd happens early on. Brady’s shoe lace breaks and it doesn’t faze her. She serves an ace to close the first game. 1-1
Both women are hitting clean and hard. Osaka goes up 2-1.
Jennifer over hits the first shot and then double faults. Time to settle in for the former UCLA star and 2015 All-American. She does settle in and wins the next 4 points, setting up her brutal forehands with powerful serves. Knots it at 2-2.
Pushed a little, as Jennifer hits a lunging return down the line, Osaka holds steady with great serving and goes up 3-2.
Brady is swinging large and accurate. Osaka hits some great shots, one winner inside the lines but Jennifer is serving too well and clocks a closing ace. 3-3.
Osaka is serving well again, but Brady has the first break point. Unfortunately she clocks the 75 mph serve long. Osaka gathers herself and out hits Brady. Now 4-3.
Osaka is moving Jennifer from corner to corner. The quality of tennis is the best of the tournament. Brady holds 4-4.
Naomi keeps her playing level very high and ends the 9 games with a service ace and leads 5-4.
Jennifer has not dropped a set this tournament. This may be her first test.
Test passed.
She plays flawlessly. 5-5.
Naomi continues to hit clean and plays at an incredibly high level. 6-5.
Brady continues to serve exceptionally well. 6-6.
Time for a tie breaker. It is exactly what this first set deserves.
Naomi is serving unbelievably well. At least one at 121 mph.
A couple of loose forehands from Brady. Osaka leads 5-1. Naomi is playing so crisp it is machine like. She takes the first set 7-6 (7-1).
The perfection of play continues into the second set with Jennifer serving first. Both play flawlessly on their serves. Jennifer leads 2-1.
Brady pushes Naomi a little and has her down 0-30 but Osaka is just playing too well and comes back to win the game. 2-2.
This match is absolutely a test of wills. Jennifer is strong willed and holds at 3-2.
Naomi has not flinched. Plays a flawless game and holds at 3-3.
At 4-4, tremendous 18 shot rally and Brady gets the first break of the match and now serves for the set at 5-3.
Jennifer hits and serves well. Naomi has only reached deuce just once on Jennifer’s serve. Here she doesn’t.
Jennifer wins the second set 6-3.
Unbelievably high quality tennis. We tennis fans have been blessed.
Every time that Osaka has made the quarterfinals of a major, she has gone on to win the title.
It is gut check time. Time for the third set.
Naomi wins the first game at love, 1-0.
On Jennifer’s serve, Naomi finally gets to 30-30 but Brady digs and still holds. 1-1.
The two are striking the ball in ways we have virtually never seen. They are smashing it hard and keeping it between the lines. The angles are incredible as well.
Huge hitting from Osaka as she blasts a down the line shot for a winner. 2-1.
The next game is a shocker. The two battle back and forth and Naomi has a break point. During the next rally, Jennifer hits a screamer to the back of the line.
The ball is called out. It was close. Very close.
To our surprise, Jennifer does not challenge it.
What? She’s walking away.
The electronic review comes and guess what? It hit the line and was in. What a huge mistake.
Osaka breaks and goes up 3-1.
Unbelievable mistake.
Naomi is serving and determined to hold. Hits a hard shot that clips the net, and falls over. What a break. When things start going your way, what a wonderful world it is. Now up 4-1.
Naomi gets some break points but Brady has clearly not given up and plays stellar tennis and fights off Naomi. 2-4.
Naomi continues to serve well, especially with those high kickers and holds 5-2.
Jennifer plays a very compact game and wins the game. No tapping out here. Now down 3-5.
Interesting junction. Naomi’s serve is starting to betray her as she tries to close this out including serving a double fault. Down 15-30. Can the number 28 in the world pull off an upset?
Not today.
Naomi settles down, gets the serve in and closes the match out 6-3.
Well done all around.
What impressed us most about Jennifer is how she can control her incredible power. If she was a player who relied upon a range of shots, one day she could be hot and the next day not.
When you are a player that can hit with accuracy and power, coupled with a blistering serve, you will tend to overwhelm your opponent more often than not.
We weren’t sure how good Jennifer was before watching her match Naomi Osaka shot for shot in the semis. It was a brilliant affair to watch. We can’t remember when two players battled this well for such a tremendously long stretch.
Neither blinked.
When watching Jennifer Brady’s powerful rise to prominence, neither should you.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Brady
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