Naomi Osaka wins US Open after Serena ‘umpire thief’ meltdown

Naomi Osaka of Japan poses with the championship trophy after winning the Women’s Singles finals match against Serena Williams of the United States on Day Thirteen of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 8, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Chris Trotman/Getty Images for USTA/AFP

Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese woman to win a Grand Slam title on Saturday as her idol Serena Williams angrily imploded, calling the chair umpire in the US Open final “a thief”.

Osaka, 20, triumphed 6-2, 6-4 in the match marred by Williams’s second set outburst, the American enraged by umpire Carlos Ramos’s warning for receiving coaching from her box.

She tearfully accused him of being a “thief” and angrily demanded an apology from the official.

When a second code violation for racquet abuse was handed out to her — along with a point penalty — Williams exploded.

“You’re attacking my character,” she said. “You will never, ever be on another court of mine. You are the liar,” she fumed and Ramos handed her a game penalty that put Osaka one game from victory at 5-3 in the second set.

Williams won the next game, and continued her tearful remonstrations with a supervisor on the changeover but Osaka — who displayed remarkable poise throughout — held serve to seal a historic win for her country.