After winning just one game in the opening set, fourth-seeded Naomi Osaka battled back to defeat the resurgent Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Saturday to capture her second US Open title in two years and third Grand Slam overall.

In doing so, Osaka, 22, became the first woman in 25 years to win the US Open after dropping the first set. The last to do so had been Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, who defeated Steffi Graf in 1994.

The unseeded Azarenka, who pulled off an improbable comeback against 23-time Grand Slam champion and fellow mom Serena Williams in the semifinals, was playing in her first Grand Slam final in seven years. Azarenka fell to 0-3 in US Open finals, all in three sets. She lost to Williams in both the 2012 and 2013 final.

Osaka won the 2018 US Open for her first career major, followed by the Australian Open in 2019. But she admitted to struggling with the weight of her early success, and being discouraged by her subsequent results. She lost in the fourth round in Queens last year, and fell in the round of 32 in Melbourne to begin the season. But she said she found perspective during the unexpected break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Throughout the course of her run at the US Open, Osaka wore a different mask for each match, each representing the name of someone who died as the result of racial injustice and police brutality, in hopes of raising global awareness of their stories and plight.

Osaka repeatedly expressed her desire to wear all seven masks, and now she has done just that. Before Saturday’s final, she wore a mask bearing the name of Tamir Rice.