Take a look at the ascension of Naomi Osaka as the most prominent figure in tennis both on and off the court.

Naomi Osaka paused for a moment when asked about her perfect record in major finals.

She had just defeated Serena Williams in the Australian Open semifinals and secured her spot in her fourth career championship match.

She and Monica Seles are the only women to win their first four major final appearances in the Open era, and she now trails just Serena and Venus Williams with major victories among active players, tied with recently returned Kim Clijsters.

On Saturday, she left no doubt where she stands in the current landscape of women's tennis.

The two had battled in the semifinals of the US Open in September in a memorable three-set match in which Osaka said she had "never had to physically and mentally fight so hard" on the court.

"She played really well when she had to," Brady said after the match.

"And just to serve out the match like that, you know, she did that also in New York against me.

It was a far different scene from the ones after her first two Slam titles, at the 2018 US Open and the 2019 Australian Open, where few had expected her to be triumphant against more experienced opponents.

1 ranking after those back-to-back major victories, Osaka struggled under the weight of expectations.

She won her first three matches at the Western & Southern Open, the lead-in tournament for the US Open, and then announced she would be boycotting her semifinal match in the hope of creating conversation in the tennis world around the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

It's the longest win streak on the WTA Tour since Serena Williams reached 27 consecutive victories spanning across the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

Williams has long been the leading figure in women's tennis -- dominating the court, the headlines and the sponsorship dollars -- and has spent the past three years since returning from childbirth trying to reclaim her throne.

There have been 11 different major champions since Serena Williams won her most recent Slam title at the Australian Open in 2017 -- with Osaka and Simona Halep (2) the only ones to earn multiple trophies in that span.

With a deadly serve and a cold-as-ice demeanor under pressure -- much like Williams in her prime -- Osaka is now the one her peers have no answers for