Naomi Osaka denies Serena Williams a shot at record-tying 24th major title at Australian Open
CNN
Serena Williams has been denied her opportunity to match Australian Margaret Court's record of 24 major singles titles after she was beaten by 23-year-old Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.
The highly anticipated women's singles semifinal at Rod Laver Arena had a noticeable buzz from crowds returning to the stands for the first time after a five-day lockdown, the result of a small coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne which led the state government to impose snap Covid-19 containment measures. Osaka won the match 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Australian Open final for the second time. She has now won 20 consecutive matches, last losing in February last year.The US began pulling military equipment and additional personnel out of Niger on Friday after waiting months for the ruling military junta to approve US military flights into the country, two sources familiar with the matter said Saturday, ahead of a September 15 withdrawal deadline agreed to by the two countries.
The judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York on Friday informed the former president’s defense team and prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office that a comment was posted on the New York State Unified Court Systems’ public Facebook page last week by a poster who claimed to be a cousin of a juror, saying that Trump would be convicted.